


Prick, Goes The Scorpion's Tail

by AngeliaDark



Series: Golden Stinger [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: A Wild Oscar Appears, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Battle of Haven, Especially Jaune, Everyone is in trouble, Extremely Morally-Grey Jaune, Grimm Ichor, He has plans for Jaune, M/M, Nuckelavee Grimm - Freeform, Tyrian Wins, Tyrian is a real creep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-04-16 02:35:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 66,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14154789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeliaDark/pseuds/AngeliaDark
Summary: Tyrian escaped having his tail cut and subdues RNJR and Qrow, leaving Ruby to make a choice in order to have a chance to save everyone's lives.  In return for his grand service, he asks his Lady for his prize: Jaune.  But unexpected turns of events change the story entirely for everyone.





	1. Chapter 1

_**Black, black is love's potion.** _  
_**Take heed, take heed of the thorns.** _  
_**Don't scream when it stings** _  
_**Remember that you were warned** _

 

The air seemed to stand still, thick with the scent of ruin and decay of the surrounding village as all participants in the fight at hand stared at the outcome.

A flash of tail snapping out at an opening, a cry of pain, and disbelief suspended reality just for a moment. It was all the moment Tyrian needed to curl his aculeus inward and jerk his tail back, aiming perfectly for the shallow graze he had inflicted to dig in deeper for a second injection.

It was not a moment sooner, as the little silver-eyed girl swung her scythe out, missing his tail by a hair's breadth. THAT would have been bad.  He nimbly hopped out of the scythe's reach just as Qrow dropped his sword and fell to his knees, the second dosage of poison already taking hold.

"Uncle Qrow-!"  Ruby's momentary loss of attention was all that he needed.  He turned to the other three a short distance away, making lightning-quick observations.  One of them down with a nearly-broken aura; the girl not too far behind and focused primarily on her partner, and Jaune...

Tyrian felt a flurry of excitement in is gut; as many hits as the boy had taken, he STILL had aura to spare.  _Interesting..._

First things first.

He darted for the weakened pair, his tail darting out and striking the girl first.  He focused as much poison as he could into the sting, not wanting an opportunity for her to strike back as pierced her shoulder, seeing her visibly pale as she fruitlessly swatted at the offending tail.  Quick as a flash, he did the same to her partner, who went limp almost immediately, being of low aura as it was.

A flash of metal in his peripheral had him leaping back as Jaune swung at him with his sword, blue eyes blazing with determination and fury.  Tyrian grinned, noting the boy's lack of shield to attack two-handed, noting on how much easier it would be to land a sting.  He honed in on the unarmored abdomen, one arm swinging out to block the sword with his own blades, and struck at the exposed area.

Jaune let out a yelp of pain and pitched forward, and Tyrian let him drop.  To the Faunus's surprise, the boy caught himself on one knee and forcefully drew himself up, his hands clenching around his sword as he launched around and swung again.

Tyrian jerked back, sure that the tip of the sword took off a centimeter of his bangs if he had paused to actually look, and jumped away from Jaune, his guts shuddering again.  That dose of venom should at LEAST have put the boy in shock, and yet Jaune was upright, albeit shakily, and poised to attack again, his aura flickering but not quite breaking.

Still, he had Ruby a short distance away coming to her senses, and he had to act quickly.  Jaune's movements were slow from the poison and it was child's play to block the next swing and strike again--this time in the boy's neck.

The sting was shallow but it did the trick, as Jaune's grip on his motor functions ebbed and failed as he fell to the ground, his aura finally breaking with a defiant sputter.  Tyrian grinned, then turned and blocked Ruby's strike at him, almost effortlessly catching the staff of the scythe in the hook of his blades and wrenching it from her hands.  He tossed it a safe distance away, then quickly retracted his blades and punched her in the face, knocking her back on the ground before pouncing and pinning her back.

Ruby struggled against his grip, her lack of aura and her exhaustion making the fight futile, though he could admire her spirit.  But he had no real NEED for that spirit, not now.  His grip on her wrists turned bruising as his tail snapped up over his shoulder and poised itself with the stinger dangerously close to her left eye.

Ruby froze, her body shaking with adrenaline and terror as she stared dead at that stinger, watching putrid purple venom bead at the tip but not quite fall, thank the gods.  Above her, Tyrian's grin went devious with amusement.  "Now that I have your attention, my delicate flower," he purred, "we can discuss our arrangement without further interruption."  He saw her throat flex with an audible accompanying gulp, her eyes fearful but with a flicker of defiance.

"...what do you want?" she weakly demanded, her voice quivering with fear.  Tyrian made a faux-thoughtful sound, his tail swaying to and fro above him.

"My primary objective, as I've said, is to retrieve you and bring you to my Lady," he said, his tail pausing it's movement.  "However...I DID make a little promise to Cinder concerning an..."  His stinger poised over her eye again, his own eyes shimmering from gold to purple.  "...eye for an eye."

He delighted in the whimper of terror that emanated from the little girl, watching her clench her eyes shut in a desperate attempt to possibly deter the inevitable.  He allowed her to suffer for a moment before letting his eyes shift back to gold, the stinger lifting a few inches.  "However, her business is her business...and I have a much better proposition for you."

Ruby was silent for a moment before her eyes peeked open warily, the silver shimmering with tears of dread.  "...what?" she queried timidly.  Tyrian gave her a smile that would have been almost reassuring, were his eyes not gleaming with hunger and killing intent.  

"Her Grace did request you be returned alive," he said, his tail swaying almost playfully again.  "And I am more than obliged to make that happen.  However, she never did say in what state you should be in...OTHER than alive."  His grin broadened, showing teeth.  "However...I may be inclined to bring you to her fully-intact..."

Ruby looked mildly relieved for a mere fraction of a second before her eyes flickered over to her downed teammates, the relief changing to debilitating worry.  Tyrian followed her gaze, smirking.  "Oh, them.  She has no use for them, and they're in no condition to follow..."

"They're going to die!" Ruby wailed pitifully, her eyes filling with tears as she struggled weakly.  "I can't...you can't LEAVE them like this, they'll die...!"

"Very true," Tyrian concurred, "I DID give all of them a quite lethal sting...however..."  He contorted slightly to shift his leg up and pin her left arm down in place of his hand, which shifted to a small pouch on his belt, opening it and taking out a large vial of sickly brown liquid.  "...I'm not without an antidote."  He beamed at Ruby's incredulous stare.  "It makes for an excellent bargaining tool for one's life."  He held the vial delicately in front of her face, jiggling it temptingly.  "So here's MY offer...come with me willingly, and I will spare their lives."  He leaned in closer, his golden eyes glinting madly.  "I bring you all before my Queen, and you will trade your life for theirs.  The willing sacrifice may even make her willing to let them all go without a further scratch."

He leaned back, shrugging.  "Or, you decide to be difficult, I pluck out one of your pretty little silver eyes, and I drag you to her whether you like it or not, leaving your friends to rot from the inside out within the day.  The choice is yours, little flower."

Ruby gave him a pitifully hateful glare, thought Tyrian knew she already made up her mind.  "...I'll go with you," she said, her eyes going steely.  "Heal them first."

Tyrian grinned.  "But of course, my thorny Rose," he said mockingly, lifting his foot from her arm and standing up, keeping his tail poised at her as a precaution.  "You just sit right there and don't move."

He knew that she wouldn't; rather, she nearly COULDN'T.  His Semblance came very much in handy when he was actually in physical contact with someone through his own skin.  Draining her aura down to the minimum required for basic consciousness and upright movement was almost too easy.  Before going to anyone, he walked over to her scythe and looked it over for a moment before finding the trigger button and reforming it into the smaller sniper rifle.  It wouldn't do well to give her any ideas.

First was Qrow, who had a double-dosage and was already having breathing problems.  He carelessly tugged the man's head back by the hair and put in a splash of the antidote; it was slow-acting and did nothing to restore aura, as well as it having a sedative effect, particularly for spasms.  With Qrow taken care of, he went around to the other three, finishing with Jaune, who seemed to be faring better still than the others despite having also received two stings.

With the antidote administered, Tyrian then began the task of rounding them up and emptying their satchels before turning to Ruby, holding rope in his hands.  "Hands together," he instructed, walking over.  Ruby gave him a sour look, but complied, holding her arms out with her hands clasped together.  Tyrian made quick work of binding her wrists, using the extra length to tie around her waist and knot in back to her belt to keep it secure.  "Don't be running off now," he said, waggling a finger in front of her face like she was a spoiled puppy.  "I wouldn't have to break your legs, now would I?"

The threat hung heavy in the air, keeping her seated on the ground to watch as Tyrian began disarming the rest of the team.

From Qrow he took the man's sword, rings, and cape clasp; anything that could be used as a weapon.  He tossed them into one of the empty satchels before turning to the others.  He took the bladed pistols from Ren, as well as a dagger concealed in his boot.  Nora's hammer was reformed into the grenade launcher and added to another satchel, and then he turned his attentions to Jaune.

There was much to disarm from him, from the armor to the sword and shield, the latter of which could thankfully retract into a sheath.  He hooked the sheath onto his own belt and tossed the armor into a satchel before non-too-subtly searching the boy for other hidden weapons.

Under his hands, he could feel the flicker of an aural recharge, a fact that excited and fascinated him all over again.  This one, he decided, was far better off from being dead.  He drew his tongue over his teeth before putting the satchels together and sitting down on the ground, looking like he was awaiting something.

Ruby sat in silence for what seemed like hours, alternating between sending worried glances at her team and impatient, wary  glares at Tyrian, who was simply SITTING there and doing nothing.  Finally, she couldn't stand the silence; at very least, she could gather more information about what was at stake for herself and the others.  "...what's going on?" she said, trying not to let her voice quiver.

Tyrian grinned as though he had won a game of silence; in a way, he had.  "We are waiting," he replied, being deliberately secretive.  Ruby's jaw clenched, but she would have to play the game in order to get anything from him.  

"...for what?"

A wider grin.  "For the right time."

Ruby sighed.  "....how long will that be?"  

"Soon."  Tyrian's eyes glimmered.  "At night."

Ruby felt a shudder run down her spine; being in this decaying village in the overcast daytime was bad enough, but for the dead of night with Grim coming out...

Best to not think about it.

She wrung her hands quietly in her lap, quelling down the urge to cry from fear, frustration, and anger.  If only she'd been quicker with her scythe, she could have possibly caught his tail, weakened him...!  Even with their aura gone, at very least she and the others could have taken him on with him wounded!  Now she was weak and bound, her team and uncle dispatched, and she was being taken to someone she didn't even know, for something she didn't even know what for.

And now she didn't even know what was going to actually happen to her, or to her team.  She was only being compliant on the slim sliver of a chance that they could live.  

Ruby nudged at her damp eye with her shoulder, looking over at Tyrian again and seeing him eyeing over her team almost hungrily with a look she'd only ever seen on a Grim.  She was rightfully indignant and protective, tempted almost to say something, when she noticed that Tyrian's eyes weren't roaming the entire team as a whole.

He was eyeing Jaune.

Unbidden, she recalled Tyrian perched on Jaune's shield, leaning in for a closer look; pointing him out with a  _"You DO interest me"_ when his apparent objective was Ruby.  Jaune WAS an interesting person, granted, but for a complete psychopathic stranger to have this hungry fascination?  

Unknown implications began to turn in Ruby's stomach, her resolve darkening with the air around them as dreary day became blackened night.


	2. Chapter 2

The air turned colder as the day grew darker, until only the moon's feeble shine behind thinning clouds illuminated anything with a light enough surface to make it worth it.  It took every ounce of bravery Ruby had not to give in to fear and start panicking.  It didn't help that every time she glanced Tyrian's way, the Faunus's golden eyes were glowing in the darkness.

She tried not to think about it, about what he could do to her...about what was going to happen to her regardless.  But the darkness didn't help.  It never helped.  There was no light in this, physically or metaphorically.  She didn't even know what she was waiting FOR.

The dark ambiance did nothing for her nerves as she nearly jumped out of her skin when Tyrian stood up suddenly, his tail flicking with excitement.  Ruby felt none of the excitement, but instead a draining coldness as the darkness grew even darker in the alley of one street.  It took her a dreadful moment to realize that it wasn't just a trick of the shadows that created the darkness; a real, physical THING manifested itself and drew closer.

The make was unlike anything Ruby had ever seen, but the white skull-like carapace identified it as a creature of Grim.  There were only pinpricks of red light in the sockets of that carapace, but Ruby barely noticed it.  She was more focused on how it resembled a heavily-cloaked person, only the cloak was pure darkness.  It glided toward Ruby and Tyrian, sucking any remaining warmth out of the air and filling Ruby's lungs with an almost frosty, suffocating coldness.

It did not seem to faze Tyrian in the least, as the Faunus confidently strode up to it and knelt down on one knee, lowering his head reverently.  "My Lady!" he called into the Grim's darkness, his voice sounding muffled despite the close proximity he was to Ruby.  "I have completed my task!  Allow me to return with my offerings!"

Ruby didn't appreciate the way he said 'offerings', let alone into the darkness-personified cloak of a Grim, and only felt her dread worsen when the Grim's cloak-like body began to expand and form like a warped point in time and space large enough for someone to walk through.

_She was going to have to go in there._

She didn't want to go in there.

Tyrian didn't seem to care what she did or didn't want as he walked over and grabbed her by the back of the hood, standing her upright. “You can make yourself useful, little flower,” he said, grabbing Nora and carelessly dragging her over by the jacket. “Carry this one.” He effortlessly lifted Nora and deposited her over Ruby's shoulders.

Ruby winced at the added weight, but took care to not let Nora drop, watching as Tyrian picked Jaune up and draped him over a shoulder before doing the same to Ren and then carelessly grabbing the back of Qrow's shirt and dragging him over to the awaiting Grim. “After you.”

She hesitated, her dedication and willing sacrifice for her friends battling with terror of the unknown before Tyrian gave her a hard nudge forward with the blunt end of his aculeus. She swallowed down her panic and clenched her eyes shut as she stepped forward.

Step by step, she thought to herself, one step at a time. Ignore the smothering darkness that seemed to suffocate every sense in her body, push through, do it, do it, do it for your friends, for Qrow...!

A sudden lift of the suffocation and a sharp sudden ability to breathe again almost made her stumble and drop Nora, but she caught herself just in time, opening her eyes to dare to see what was in store.

Perhaps it was all the comic books and movies she had indulged in, but she had been expecting a dank fortress with walls made of bones and blood splattered everywhere; she felt both silly and relieved when instead it was merely a stone hallway lit with candles. The atmosphere was, admittedly, very creepy, but compared to what she had been expecting, she would take this over her own imagination.

Footsteps behind her nearly made her jump, but it was merely Tyrian who had followed, still carting the boys with him. He looked perfectly at home in the gothique hall, and seemed to know exactly where to go. “This way,” he said, sounding almost giddy with anticipation.

Ruby felt none of that anticipation...trepidation was more like it. She followed him down the hall to a set of doors, wincing when he kicked them open and walked inside. Ruby silently followed, swallowing hard as she looked around.

It was a huge stone chamber of sorts, lined and lit with more candles. It was large enough to have every little sound echo, and the sound of Tyrian dropping Qrow and Ren to the floor seemed almost deafening. Jaune followed the two, albeit much gentler and quieter, and Ruby finally felt the burden of Nora's weight take the last of her nerve-fueled strength as she fell to her knees, allowing Nora to slip off of her back and onto the floor.

Tyrian remained standing, his arms folded behind his straightened back as though priming himself like a child expected of praise. Ruby could only guess for whom just for a moment before opposite doors opened across the room and the air went cold again.

It was a different kind of cold...one that almost seemed to burn and snuff out positiveness in the air. The sound of heels on stone made their way closer in an unhurried pace accompanied by a soft tinkling of something, jewelry perhaps? Ruby was too afraid to look up to get a good glance and find out.

The footsteps drew closer until they paused a short distance away, just enough for Ruby to see the black hem of a dress that appeared to seethe with a blackened, tainted aura. To her side, Tyrian dropped to kneel once more, his head bowed low.

“I have succeeded, my Lady,” he breathed reverently, his voice shaking in barely-restrained joy. “I have brought you the girl with the silver eyes.”

There was a beat of silence, and then a powerful, yet melodic, voice answered.

“You seem to have brought more than that. Explain, Tyrian.”

Tyrian lifted his head. “Gifts, my Lady,” he replied. “I brought you Qrow Branwen himself...as well as others to do with as you please.”

Ruby's eyes flashed with anger as she snapped her head to face Tyrian. “You SAID—“ she began, only for a pulse of suffocating dread to have the rest of her indignation catch in her throat. She choked for a moment and swallowed, then tensed up when she heard the footsteps draw closer, right to her.

Her hands clenched in her skirt tightly, not daring to look up until a reddish black-veined hand appeard in her vision to tuck under her chin and lift her head up against her own will.

Ruby would rather face a Grim than look at what she was seeing. This woman, though by surface beautiful, had the same veins running over her death-pale face, her eyes pitch black with red irises that glowed like a maelstrom of hellfire. It was inhuman to behold, something that, to Ruby, should not exist.

The woman's eyes bore into hers for a long moment before she stood upright again, turning to Tyrian. “Did you make a promise to the girl, Tyrian?” she demanded.

Confidently, Tyrian replied, “I did not. Only a mere speculation.” He grinned. “She came of her own free will, in order to spare the lives of her friends.”

She looked between Tyrian and Ruby for a brief moment before glancing at the still-unconscious team on the floor, her silence contemplative. After a moment, she folded her hands behind her back and paced her way to the door.

“Very well,” she replied. “A noble sacrifice SHOULD, in fact, be honored. When all is said and done, clip the wings of the bird and blind the others to what they have seen.” She paused, glancing back at Ruby. “...AFTER they have witnessed her demise. It will be the last thing they will ever see.”

Ruby's heart dropped, feeling sick to her stomach. She barely managed to keep a wave of nausea from overwhelming her as she began to shake in terror of her fate.

“Tyrian,” the woman spoke again, this time a lighter tilt to her voice, “you have done well. For this, you should be rewarded. Name your prize.”

Ruby shakily looked over at Tyrian, and felt a shudder in her soul when she saw him looking at Jaune again with that gleam of hunger, before he stood and walked over to his Lady, speaking in a hushed tone that Ruby could not hear. Whatever he said, however, seemed to surprise even his master.

Red eyes narrowed slightly, in equal parts amusement and intrigue. “It is no guarantee, Tyrian,” she said. Tyrian did not seem deterred in the least.

“It will be,” he replied, looking ready to almost salivate as he wrung his hands eagerly. “I KNOW.”

Her eyes narrowed further before she closed them, sighing softly. “Very well,” she replied. “Two days. Have them properly accommodated until then.” She turned and walked to the door. “Cinder has waited this long, she can wait two more days.”

And with that, she left, though the heavy, suffocating dread she left behind lingered until Ruby's resolve finally crumbled into unconsciousness.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no effing idea how Team WTCH gets back to the Fortress of Doom, I just speculated.


	3. Chapter 3

Team RNJR plus Qrow sat in silence.

There was nothing for any of them to say, just as there was nothing for them to do. There was no help coming, no weapons to aid them, and any helpful Semblance they would have was dampened by their cells.

It was difficult to call them 'cells'; in reality it was a cage of blackish crystals that separated Ruby from the others, emitting a darkness that kept their aura from being activated above normal, natural settings. Touching the crystals directly made them black out momentarily, so there was nothing for them to do but sit and wait.

Qrow as by far in the worst condition, the antidote having taken care of the poison, but the double dosage was keeping his aura broken and unable to be recharged, especially within the confines of the crystal cage. Despite his resolve to stay strong for the kids, it was all he could do to stay conscious. He laid out on his side, his wound still aching from the feeble attempt at healing without a bandage.

When he and the others came to, everyone found themselves stripped down to the necessities so no one had much in the way of expendable clothing to use as bandage wraps for anyone. The best Nora could do was tear as much off of the hem of her shirt as could be considered decent so Qrow had something to press against his wound while Jaune used his tank top to split between Ren and Nora's shoulder wounds.

When examining his own abdominal and neck wound, everyone found that they were almost closed, leaving only bruising that had yet to heal in the cage. So he spared nothing for himself, sitting back on the floor with his hands twitching for the safety of his sword and shield.

Ruby only gave them the basic knowledge of what was happening. She didn't know much herself, and the fear her uncle was displaying only made her more fearful herself. She still left out the worst detail—that she was to be killed for them.

The last thing she wanted was any of them to do anything reckless and risk what very slim chance they had of leaving here alive. She could handle it. She really could.

For what seemed like forever, they sat in silence pondering their fates, and then unexpectedly, the door opened, shocking everyone out of their stupor. Ruby peered through the bars of her cage, her eyes widening when she saw Emerald walk in carrying a basket.

Emerald seemed like she would rather be anywhere else in the world but here just from her body language; whether it was in this room or this entire area in general remained to be seen. She walked over to the group, setting the basket down and unpacking meager rations of food and water. The others kept their distance, but Ruby crept as close as she could to the edge of the cage.

“...Emerald?” Ruby asked hesitantly. Emerald didn't look at her, but Ruby saw her shoulders tense and hands shake softly. “Emerald, I'm not going to ask for help.” Her eyes lowered to her hands, shoulder slumped. “......I'm not stupid enough to think begging would help at all.” She sighed. “...I just want to know...what's going to happen?”

Emerald's jaw tightened as she finished setting out the rations, pushing them just to reaching distance before standing and turning to leave, then paused, her hands clenching.

“...I don't know,” she said quietly. “I really don't know anything about it. Just that you're all here.”

Ruby felt a wave of disappointment, but nodded. “...thank you,” she said, sitting back and hugging her knees, not bothering with the rations set on her end.  She didn't look up, hearing Emerald's footsteps fade away and the door shut behind her.

Qrow sighed, wincing as he sat up on his elbow.  "...Ruby," he said quietly.  Ruby didn't respond, and Qrow lowered his eyes, falling silent again.  Nothing he could say would change the fact that he couldn't get them out of this mess now.  All of these strong Huntsmen now looked like the children they actually were; terrified and small, all wishing for a miracle they were still innocent enough to hope for.

And it wasn't a miracle he could give them.

He laid back down, clenching his jaw tightly to keep his tears of frustration and self-disappointment at bay, thinking of how this was all his fault. 

* * *

 

The doors swinging open hours, perhaps even a day, later had everyone looking up.

A group walked in, headed by Cinder with Emerald and Mercury in tow.  Cinder honed in on Ruby immediately, her one good eye glowing in barely-restrained anger and desire to kill, but she kept restraint on her own desires.  For now.  

Emerald pointedly refused to look at the group, keeping her eyes to Cinder's back as Mercury gave the team a glance of unknown interest; no love was lost between them, but it appeared he too didn't know what was in store.

Behind them was Tyrian, who looked barely able to contain his glee in Nora-levels of giddiness, his eyes trained on the cage and not on the last of the group that tailed them.

Ruby had already seen her...Salem, Qrow had mentioned, but the others recoiled at the sight and aural feel of her.  She walked ahead of the others, coming to a stop before the crystal cages, giving each and every one of them a cold, intense look one by one, finishing with Ruby.  That stare was held longer than the others before she broke the eye contact, holding up  her hand and lowering it.  At the gesture, the crystals surrounding them melded into the floor and vanished.

"Be smart and don't make this difficult on yourselves," she said, giving them an emotionless smile.  "No further harm than necessary will befall you as long as you behave."

Slowly and awkwardly, RNJR stood and Qrow was only able to sit up, though he looked as though he wished to stand and disregard the behavior command.  Salem let them stand in silence before turning and gliding back to her group, turning to Tyrian.  "As promised, Tyrian, you may have your reward."

Tyrian actually squealed in delight, clapping his hand and bowing his head. "Thank you, thank you, Your Grace!" he chirped before turning to the group and walking over, his golden eyes almost glowing with anticipation.  The entire group tensed, breath frozen in their throats, as Tyrian drew closer, deliberately pacing by Nora, then Ren, and coming to a stop in front of Jaune, his eyes giving the boy a once-over with an appreciative gleam before grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the line.

"Jaune!" Ren cried, reaching out of his place before having his other hand grabbed by Qrow, who jerked him back.  

"Stop," he said, his voice hoarse and shaky.  He tightened his hand around Ren's.  "Don't..."  The unspoken fear of more injury or even death than necessary was not unnoticed, and Ren clenched his hands tightly, biting his lip to prevent himself from saying anything he shouldn't.  

Jaune was terrified.  He was MORE than terrified, deeper than any emotion he could hope to find a definition for, as Tyrian singled him out then dragged him away from his friends, letting him go in the center of the room between the two factions.  He couldn't help his intense shaking, a million thoughts running through his head and none of them pleasant as Tyrian beamed at him before turning and flouncing over to Salem, his tail flicking behind him.

Salem slipped a hand into her opposing sleeve and took out a vial filled with black liquid, handing it over to Tyrian with a nod.  Tyrian smiled gratefully before turning back to Jaune, his eyes gleaming and looking almost black with his excitement-dilated pupils.  Jaune resisted the urge to run as he was approached, his hands flexing in an attempt to quell his uncontrollable shaking.  It didn't work.  

Tyrian strode up to the boy, his tail swaying almost hypnotically behind him as he eyed Jaune over intensely, then reached out, ignoring Jaune's flinch, and brushed his fingertips through Jaune's bangs.

Jaune stood frozen, not knowing whether to watch Tyrian's hands or tail for an impending attack, but deftly noticed that Tyrian had foregone his vambraces and accompanying blades.  His eyes were void of the poisonous purple, so he wasn't geared up for a sting, but Jaune felt an impending terror nonetheless.  The Faunus was radiating an air of...something.  Something strong, and something horrendous, almost palpable.  Tyrian smiled, amused by the reaction, and began pacing around Jaune, circling like a beast stalking a meal.

It was not just for intimidation; Tyrian was thoroughly enjoying every spare inch of the boy's frame.  He hadn't the chance to do so, since his Lady set the task of unclothing them all to Emerald and Mercury, but he wanted a chance to appreciate what he was seeing.  Jaune was tall, lithe but not wiry; toned but not overly muscular.  A frame much like his own, he thought with no small amount of pride.  And not a single mark on him, save for small bruises where he had struck with his stinger.  But they were very much nearly healed whilst the rest of the team were still nursing open wounds.  

A shudder from neck to the tip of his tail ran through him, almost salivating with the anticipation.  _This would work_ , he thought with a thrill.  It HAD to.  His free hand twitched with the desire to _touch_ , to _caress_...and nothing was stopping him.  He reached out and pressed his hand to Jaune's back, feeling muscle's tense and aura shudder under his palm.  It was exhilarating, to say the least. 

He ran his hand from Jaune's back to his shoulder and over his collarbone as he continued to pace around the boy, delighting in the hitches of breath and the shudders at brushing a sensitive patch of skin.  He did another pace around him, leaning in closer from behind and actually _purred_ as he breathed in the scent from Jaune's hair.  

"I do love the color gold," he murmured.  "I can smell colors, you know...and gold always smells the most... _delectable_."

Jaune wasn't knowledgeable in many things, but he could swear that the Faunus's tone was...seductive.  The implications were lost on him for only a brief moment before he suddenly realized exactly what Tyrian was talking about.

A new form of terror gripped at his soul as it dawned on him exactly what Tyrian was doing. He felt the urge to curl in on himself, now regretting giving Ren and Nora his top as to not be on display for this monster.

And worst of all, in front of everyone else. It was a small mercy that he had his back turned to them, but less of a mercy that he was facing the opposition, and he didn't want them to see this either.

A brush of fingertips from nape to sacrum had him arching in shock as though electricity had been shot through him. He clenched his hands tightly, fighting back the tears that stung in the corners of his eyes. He didn't want to give the enemy any reason to mock him more than their silent allowance did.

Less of acceptance and more of silence on most of the others' part. Emerald felt a ripple of nausea as she watched Tyrian fondle over Jaune, delight and arousal evident on the Faunus's face. Was THIS the 'reward' Salem had mentioned? Taking Jaune as a plaything? The very idea of what the psychopath could even DO to the golden boy of Beacon was enough to make her wish for reprieve from this meeting.

A glance at Mercury's face let her know she was not alone in that wish. The disgust was undisguised on his face as he pointedly refused to look and instead focused on a spot on the wall, his hands gripping his crossed arms tightly. She knew just enough of his home life—mostly from a semi-mocking chat between Cinder and Salem—to gather that this was one of the few perversions he couldn't tolerate.

Cinder seemed only bothered by the fact that it was Tyrian's reward that was being administered, and that it was Tyrian himself. She had dropped a rung on Salem's favor ladder and it seemed only witnessing the violation of a Beacon Huntsman would do anything to salvage her mood.

And Salem simply appeared to be waiting for something.

Jaune clenched his eyes shut, feeling Tyrian's breath on his neck as a hand slid around to touch over his abdomen. He could barely hear the revulsion of his team over the static in his head as he tried to tell himself that this WASN'T happening. But nails pressing into his skin snapped him back into the present as a reminder that yes, it WAS. He only prayed with every fiber of his being that he wouldn't be forced to do...

He whimpered when the Faunus pulled him back flush against him, flinching when he felt a tongue flick the shell of his ear.

“As delectable as you are now, my golden boy...” Tyrian purred, shifting his hand up to brush Jaune's jaw, his eyes flashing an unseen purple with over-excitement. He raised his hand higher to card through Jaune's hair, then suddenly grabbed the golden locks hard.

“You would be even more delicious screaming.”

He jerked Jaune's head back hard, using his free hand to empty the vial down Jaune's throat.

Jaune gasped and swallowed by reflex, sputtering on the rest as it drained down his esophagus. Situation be damned, he reached behind him in a bid to free his hair from Tyrian's grasp but lost his footing when the Faunus let him go, making him fall to the floor. He braced himself on his hands, coughing and hacking as he tried to force whatever was forced down his throat back up, but it felt as though he had only swallowed air by this point.

Cold air that burned his lungs.

That burned

EVERYTHING.

All of a sudden, all Jaune could feel was acid in his veins, eating him alive from the inside out. He let out a scream, convulsing onto the floor as he clawed at his skin like he was trying to bleed the acid out. His screaming tore at his throat, the acid flowing to every inch of his body and burning burning burning hotter and hotter and hotter—

Ren and Nora scrambled forward to get to him, only to be blocked by crystals jutting from the floor and draining their aura faster than ever, only their sheer will keeping them conscious as they struggled against blacking out. Qrow had a vice grip around Ruby, who was trying to break free as she screamed and sobbed for them to stop hurting Jaune.

All the screaming and struggling did nothing, and they were forced to watch Jaune suffer in agony on the floor, to listen to his screams grow louder and more intense...

Emerald wanted nothing more than to cover her ears and run away. This was more than just killing someone; death would be a kindness compared to what she was witnessing. What was that maniac even doing, she thought, other than possibly indulging in a suffering kink? By the looks of him, it seemed to be a just observation.

Tyrian's stare was glued to Jaune's convulsing form, his eyes wide and gleaming with glee, his hands pressed to his mouth like an excited child as his tail thrashed behind him. He was giggling manically, almost hopping in place as though waiting for something.

_What else could this psycho be waiting for!?_ Emerald thought wildly to herself, watching Jaune claw at the stone floor and actually leaving deep rents with his nails. And although it could have been a trick of the shadows cast by the flickering candles, she swore she saw...something...ripple down his back.

A mere moment after she saw it, Jaune suddenly stopped screaming, his entire body going painfully rigid. The sudden silence was as deafening as his screaming had been, and nobody dared to speak, dared to hope that a miracle had saved him.

Moments after the silence, Jaune arched back hard enough that a lesser being would have severed their own spine, letting out a piercing scream as it seemed that his back had exploded with a sickening wet squelch.

Emerald only saw the remaining RNJR team and Qrow be splattered with red before she doubled over with both hands on her mouth to stave back the vomit. She shook hard, hearing Ruby let out a wail and Ren retch from the blood on himself and Nora, and kept her eyes clenched shut, not wanting to open them and see what Tyrian had done to that boy.

A heavy hand on her shoulder snapped her out of it, glancing over and seeing Mercury pale and slightly green with his eyes wide and staring out in front of him. Only his mechanical legs and his grip on Emerald's shoulder was keeping him upright. Emerald swallowed back the bile in her throat and dared to look forward.

Jaune was slumped forward on his knees and elbows, his shoulders heaving with deep, wheezing breaths and covered in his own blood .

And protruding from the base of his back was a long, twitching scorpion tail.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a headcanon that Tyrian has synesthesia. It kinda makes sense.


	4. Chapter 4

Tyrian could scarcely breathe as he stared wide-eyed at the bloody boy on the floor, almost shaking uncontrollably with ecstasy.  He took everything in; the fact that Jaune was breathing, that he was ALIVE, and that the process had been a complete success.

A complete, glorious, BEAUTIFUL success.

He dropped to his knees, quivering with delight.  "...he's beautiful...!" he murmured to himself, his eyes actually watering.  "Simply beautiful...!"  He reached out, his hand stilling and shaking as though afraid to actually touch.  "Oh, my Lady, thank you so much...!"

Qrow was still in shock at having blood and--what he assumed--bits of skin splattered all over himself and Ruby, and the shock was only getting deeper when he saw what had caused it.  He could only stare at the twitching, cricking scorpion's tail, feeling dread in the most basic form churn in every ounce of his being.  What he was seeing SHOULDN'T be possible, but he had seen enough to know that it could be.  But it SHOULDN'T.  Especially to Jaune, for the sick whims of a Salem acolyte.  What was worse, he couldn't have stopped Ruby and the others from witnessing it.

Ren was frozen, every inch of him wracked with shock, unable to comprehend what he was staring at.  Jaune being taken from them and then groped by that disgusting Faunus was bad enough, but watching Jaune scream and writhe in agony was impossible to stand.  Only sheer willpower kept him conscious from these crystals holding him back, but he was close to losing that nerve from what he was seeing now. 

Jaune had a scorpion tail protruding from his lower back.

Somewhere in the back of his mind in an older memory, something was niggling at him through his shock.  He knew that tail.  He had SEEN that tail before.  What seemed like ages ago, during partner team-ups, getting up close and personal with it, especially the stinger.

Jaune had the same golden stinger at the end of the black tail.

Everyone could only stare in awe, horror, disgust, or passive interest for the longest time before Jaune's back muscles flexed slightly as he braced his hands on the floor and pushed up, struggling shakily until he was sitting up.  His spine and muscles seemed to be at war with the new addition they had to accommodate, but they were in fact making due with the unfamiliar presence of the tail.  Everything seemed to be adjusting quickly, however, as Jaune sat up further, the tail twitching behind him.

Emerald could see Jaune's face now, and it wasn't any better than seeing it contorted in agony.  He had greyish tear tracks down his pale face, and his left eye seemed like it had burst almost every blood vessel in it from the trauma to the point where the iris looked violet instead of blue.  The only other indication besides his tail that he had ingested an unholy black substance was a half-inch of his hair at the root had turned black, making a starker contrast between his paled skin and sweat-soaked golden hair.

So...no.  Tyrian's description of 'beautiful' was on the far end of her adjective spectrum.  _'Wrong'_ , was the only thing that came to mind.

Tyrian, however, would most definitely beg to differ.  He crawled closer to Jaune, his unblinking eyes never leaving the boy's face as he leaned in closer to look.  "You are perfection...!" he purred, reaching up and touching Jaune's face before grabbing both of Jaune's hands and standing, pulling Jaune up with him.  Jaune swayed on his feet, his tail seemingly instinctively shifting for a sense of balance before he stabilized himself.  Drips of his blood fell to the floor at his feet, but nowhere near the carnage at what had brought it there in the first place as his aura--amazingly--began healing him.

"Are you satisfied, Tyrian?" Salem's voice rang out, making most everyone else flinch at the break in the horrific trance.  "Your reward has indeed been proven successful."  Her smile was coldly wry.  "Not many can survive a few drops of Grim ichor, let alone a full dose like that, being simply human to begin with.  I suppose his aura levels WERE enough to have him withstand it."

Tyrian beamed, not looking away from Jaune as he kept his hands clasped to the other's.  "I am satisfied, my Lady," he said, his irises shimmering from gold to purple, his tail curling up behind him.  He took a side-step to the left, and pushed out at Jaune's hands.  Jaune stumbled back slightly, but kept his balance with a quick swish of his tail.  Tyrian smiled and side-stepped again, pulling Jaune with him this time. 

As Tyrian made with the odd movements, everyone watched with varying levels of confusion.  Only Salem seemed to know what was going on, Emerald absently noted.  As insane as she had seen Tyrian act at times, this was just...perplexing.  Watching the Faunus push and pull Jaune by the hands made no sense.  Was he teaching Jaune to balance?  Testing something?  Still, she couldn't bring herself to look away, whether it was from fear of retribution if she did from Salem, or from sheer fascination.  Maybe it was both.

The odd display of pushing and pulling took a turn when Jaune resisted a tug, his tail going rigid before curling up in a similar fashion to Tyrian's, looking poised to strike.  Tyrian's grin broadened, his eyes glimmering poisonously as he pushed at Jaune's hands again; this time, Jaune met the push halfway and began pushing back.  When Tyrian took a step to the side, Jaune followed with a mirror image, his own resistance becoming stronger. 

The rest of JNPR plus Qrow were stunned to silence, both from shock of what had initially happened to Jaune combined with the disconcerting display.  Ren, at least, had the fortitude to pull himself and Nora away from the aura-draining crystals and back closer to Qrow and Ruby, finding, at least, a spark of comfort with the group.  He was staring at the movements, trying to make sense of it.  The way Tyrian and Jaune were moving, their hands clasped in a struggle, seeming to see who would yield, it was almost like they were...

Ren felt a stab of ice cold down his spine, a memory taking him back to his childhood when his father took him on an overnight trip just outside Kuroyuri.  His father had shown him how to keep himself safe from non-Grim threats in the woods, pointing out that since it was the hot rainy seasons, scorpions were a nuisance and a threat.  He remembered his father pointing out two large ones that could fit in the palm of his hand in an aggressive battle.

Their claws clasped together.

Pushing and pulling at one another.

Their tails curled upward.

_'Dancing'_ , his father had told him.  _'Why would they dance if they're fighting?'_ Ren had asked.  _'They are not fighting'_ , his father replied.

They were mating.

All of a sudden it made sense to Ren, Tyrian's fascination with Jaune.  That psychotic Faunus had taken them all in alive in order to bring Jaune to that demon-woman to do THIS.  This was more than Tyrian wanting Jaune for a plaything.

Tyrian had wanted a plaything like HIMSELF.

Ren felt himself retch all over again, but he was too weakened to make anything of it.  Despite his absolute revulsion, Ren could do nothing but watch a perverse replay of a childhood experience, feeling filthy just witnessing it.

Tyrian's grip tightened, letting out a string of gutteral hisses between his teeth as he kept eye contact with Jaune.  Already the broken blood vessels of red in his left eye were healing, his strength returning as he met Tyrian push for push.  But as much Tyrian adored the challenge being met, he wanted SUBMISSION.  And Tyrian would have it.  His hands clenched hard, pushing out hard and making Jaune take a few steps back to compensate--

\--and then he saw Jaune's tail go from curled and poised to stiffly lax.

Tyrian squealed with delight, letting go of Jaune's hands to reach up and cup the boy's face, bringing their lips together roughly. 

Jaune stiffened but didn't pull away; Tyrian could work with that.  He curled his tail around Jaune's waist, growling softly as his aura reached out and caressed against the other's, feeling a delightful clash of resistance and animalistic CRAVING, one that Tyrian himself had and was THRILLED to share, at last.

"As charming as this display is, Tyrian," came Salem's voice behind him, hearing her step up, "you could enjoy your newfound prize elsewhere.  I am certain you don't want an audience."

Tyrian in truth didn't mind one way or another; but he WAS feeling rather possessive of his golden boy.  He looked over Jaune's shoulder, seeing the rest of the team glowering in soul-crushing revulsion at him.  It was almost sad, taking this golden trophy away from them.  But spoils to the victor, after all.

He gave the team a smile before scooping Jaune up into his arms, carrying him out of the circle.

"JAUNE!" Ruby cried, struggling weakly in Qrow's hold.  "BRING HIM BACK!  _BRING HIM BACK!_ " 

Tyrian giggled, his tail flicking mischievously behind him.  "I shall, little flower!" he called back over his shoulder.  "When we are finished with what we started!"  He strode past Cinder, giving her a cocky grin before walking out of the room.

Ruby broke down in tears, covering her face with her shaking hands.  Qrow only held her tighter, having no words of comfort that could fix this, and only leveled his hateful gaze at Salem.

Salem was entirely unfazed, meeting his glare with an even stare of her own.  "You should be thankful he's still alive," she said, pacing around the clearing.  "And I must say, when Tyrian informed me of his...fascination...I didn't expect much.  But I see what he meant now.  By all means, the boy should be dead."

Qrow snapped out before he could stop himself.  "He'd be better off dead, than a plaything for that maniac," he spat.  Salem's eyes narrowed, not in malevolence, nor mirth. 

"Perhaps," she replied.  "He IS rather...enthusiastic with his play."  She stopped her pacing mere feet from where the team was huddled.  "Tyrian is the very last of the scorpion Faunus.  And he's much more in tune with his inner beast than most.  So when he asked me for Deathstalker ichor to make one like him, it only came as SOME surprise.  So perhaps it's not so much as a 'plaything' he was after."  She gave him an ice-cold smile.  "In any case, he belongs to Tyrian now."  She turned and walked back to the opposing group, gesturing with her hand and creating another cage of black crystal once more.

Cinder gave Ruby a last glare before following, ignoring her disciples behind her as she addressed Salem.  "I don't understand why you indulged something like that," she murmured to herself.  "If that boy had died, we'd never hear the end of it from Tyrian."

Salem gave her a sidelong glance.  "He completed his task above and beyond, Cinder," she remarked.  "He was more than entitled to whatever reward he could ask for.  Whether or not it worked in his favor was beyond my control."  Her irises glowed ever-so-slightly.  "Do not wallow in jealousy because he was rewarded.  You have the silver-eyed girl here, and you will have your revenge."  She turned her gaze forward again.  "Although I'm thinking I should have blinded them now after witnessing that.  It was certainly enough to dissuade any further rebellion in their hearts."

Behind Cinder, Emerald and Mercury shuddered in revulsion, neither wanting to think about what had just happened and what certainly WAS going to happen to Jaune, and both knowing that they would never be able to forget it.


	5. Chapter 5

Tyrian hummed a merry little tune as he carried Jaune through the stone caverns to the room that was designated as 'his' for extended stays.  He didn't think he could BEGIN to describe how happy he was, how perfect his life was, at this moment.  

He looked down at Jaune, who appeared to still be suffering from lingering shock, but that was to be expected.  This WAS a big change, after all, but his darling golden boy had survived it beautifully.  Jaune was settled in his arms, his body still quivering from leftover adrenaline, and his tail still seemed to be a delicate part to take care for, but Tyrian would teach him everything he knew.

His room was sparse, as he didn't spend all that much time in it; not nearly as much as Cinder and her little minions, anyway.  However, it was to his liking in being dark and warm with mostly sheets and pillows to bury himself in for sleep.

And now he had someone to share it with.

He kicked the door shut behind him and gently sat Jaune down on a pile of pillows and sheets; silk, naturally, as it was one of the only materials that didn't catch on his tail plates, and it was pleasant to feel anyway.  Jaune's upper body swayed slightly and Tyrian braced him up gently by the shoulder to steady him.  The boy's skin was warm under his hand, almost inviting.  

_Tempting._

Tyrian leaned closer, brushing his cheek against Jaune's shoulder, reveling in the firm softness and the thrum of aura against his own.  The soft shudder from Jaune told him of the boy's lingering sensitivity and trepidation, and Tyrian was more than happy to assuage both.  He let his own chest rumble with a guttural purr as he held Jaune's head in his hands and kissed him lightly, reveling in the quivering in his hands and the taste of blood on his tongue.  He saw Jaune's tail twitch in his peripheral, and let out a shudder of his own.

The things he would teach his new golden boy, it was too exciting to think about!  How to fight with his tail, how to inject the right amount of venom for a foe, how to hide in plain sight until it was time for the kill...

But first, this.

He let go of Jaune's face and ran his hands down the boy's front, feeling out every spare inch of muscle under his fingertips as they brushed down to the hem of Jaune's jeans.  He felt a thrill run from his nape to the tip of his tail, pressing soft kisses to Jaune's face and neck as he undid the jeans and tugged them off.  They were torn and filthy anyway, he thought to himself.  He'd have nice, proper clothing for his golden boy later.

LATER.

Jaune seemed to have some inkling of self-realization lingering, shifting to favor his side rather than reclining straight back; his tail was constantly shifting to avoid being pinned in any particular way, and his body language was self-consciousness with attempting to hide himself.  It was so endearing.  He finished undressing Jaune before tugging the boy into his lap, nuzzling and kissing at every inch of skin he could find.

He could feel Jaune's pulse under his lips, quick and excited and fearful all at once.  So delicious, it took everything he had to not bite down on that silky skin.  He instead busied his hands to Jaune's legs, trailing his fingers up and down toned thighs and firm hips and delighting in the sweat-slickened feel of it all before his fingertips met with the tail.

And what an absolute beautiful thing it was.  It was slightly thicker than his own, a carapace-shiny black as opposed to his own dark matted brown, and the stinger was a beautiful shade of gold almost the same hue as Jaune's hair.  And while the two tails might be physically different, fundamentally Tyrian was SURE they had the same sensitivities.

He slipped his hand up to gently rub the undersided plates of the tail, his hypothesis proven correct as Jaune let out a ragged gasp and bucked in his lap, the tail jerking and twitching behind him.  He glanced up and saw the heavy flush over Jaune's face and chest, eyes glistening with overstimulated tears.

Beautiful.

Tyrian kept rubbing the underside of Jaune's tail, his other hand sliding back and lower, fingers twitching with anticipation as he blindly felt his way between them, rubbing against the taut muscles in a bid to make them loosen to his whims.  Jaune clung to him with loud, desperate whimpers, his tail quivering almost violently from being rubbed in the most sensitive area in being attached to his human half.  Tyrian purred, parting his knees to have Jaune's straddled thighs spread wider, giving him more access to what he really needed his focus to be on.

***

Jaune's body and mind were on the border of heaven and hell, and that was relatively pale compared to what his very soul seemed to be going through.  Every inch of him, physical and ethereal, had been torn to pieces and put back together in a wicked, crude perversion of what used to be his former self and now he couldn't tell the difference between pain and pleasure anymore.

It was all the same to him.

His consciousness kept flickering between autopilot and backseat with no way to grasp any form of control, and the continuous ravaging of his body and aura was not making regaining his senses any easier.  He was only aware of the fact that he wasn't HIMSELF anymore.

He was a MONSTER.

Sludge ran through his veins, and a creature's tail had clawed its way into becoming a part of him with no rest to let him figure out how to make sense of it all...and that Faunus Tyrian wasn't making it any easier on him.

His body was being ravaged with sharp spikes of sensation, and that maniac knew exactly where to touch in order to keep him unable to resist or fight back.  He knew how to keep Jaune JUST on the edge of WANTING it.

Jaune felt hot lips over his neck, hands stroking and rubbing and probing over him

and IN him.

His hands clawed and grasped at literally anything he could grab hold of, unable to form a proper word or a coherent sound as he felt long, nimble fingers enter him and move.  The small of his back was aching as the attached tail thrashed behind him, adding an overload of added sensation he was entirely unused to.

 

_**MORE** _

 

Jaune FELT the word that enveloped every drop of the sludge in his body, but more like an unearthly sound than an actual word.  It almost shocked him out of the hazed stupor his brain was in at how COMMANDING it was.

 

_'No, no more...I can't take anymore...!'_

 

_**I** _

_**WANT** _

_**MORE** _

 

Jaune's body jerked hard, a loud guttural moan escaping his throat to his absolute horror, when Tyrian's fingertips brushed against his prostate. 

 

_'No no no no no no...!'_

 

**_YES_ **

 

He wanted to scream to stop.  He wanted to beg to keep going.  He didn't know WHAT he wanted, and was only left to be at the mercy of whatever whims Tyrian decided for.  And Tyrian decided to continue. 

Tyrian picked him up, and Jaune found himself face-down on the pile of silk sheets and pillows.  It took far too long to realize what exactly was happening before he felt Tyrian pull his hips up and shift his tail out of the way, resting, Jaune felt, on the Faunus's shoulder.

 

_'NO NO NO NO NO-'_

 

The Faunus wasn't rough, but he was hardly gentle either as he wasted no time in pressing into Jaune, giving no time to properly adjust, but at least not savagely tearing into him as Jaune had expected.  Nevertheless, Jaune bit into the sheet under him, tears misting his vision as he felt Tyrian's hands grip his hips in a bruising hold and thrust almost savoringly slow.

 

_'This can't be happening.'_

 

**_I WANT MORE_ **

 

Jaune gave his head an almost violent shake, the secondary (primary?) voice thrumming every inch of his body in a quivering pulse that amplified every sensation Tyrian was inflicting on him.  He clenched his hands into the sheets, gasping and shaking as Tyrian's thrusts grew faster, more urgent.  Guttural, hissing groans were heard, and Jaune felt nails pierce the skin on his hips.

 

_**I WANT MORE** _

 

His hips bucked back to Tyrian's, feeling the sludge in his veins grow hot, his nerves on fire.  He hissed through his clenched teeth to stop his own moans, unable to deny that what he was feeling was PLEASURE.

 

**_I WANT MORE_ **

 

_'NO.  I DON'T WANT THIS!'  
_

 

Jaune's back arched hard when Tyrian resumed stroking his tail with one hand, gliding the hand up to press a section of Jaune's tail to his cheek.  "You're so perfect, my precious golden boy," Tyrian purred, his own tail curling and thrashing behind him.  "Absolutely perfect."  He stroked the tail harder, pressing open-mouthed kisses to the shiny black plates, this time managing to draw a stiffled moan from the boy.

 

_**I WANT THIS** _

_**I WANT MORE** _

_**MORE** _

 

_'STOP IT!  I CAN'T...!'  
_

 

He felt a growl rumble in his chest, the fire burning hotter than ever in his veins from his skull to his stinger, wanting-CRAVING-more.

 

_'...I can't....'_

 

**_I CAN_ **

**_I WANT THIS_ **

 

 

Jaune pushed back to Tyrian's thrusts, his tail curling around the Faunus's shoulders, it seemed, to pull him closer.  Tyrian obliged, leaning over Jaune's body to press the same open, desperate kisses to his back and shoulders.  "Mine," he hissed, smelling the glorious gold of Jaune's hair.  "My precious boy, my treasure, my golden GODLING...!"  He bit down on Jaune's shoulder hard, prompting Jaune to arch back hard with a gasping moan.

 

**_I_ **

**_WANT_ **

**_THIS_ **

**_I_ **

**_NEED_ **

**_THIS_ **

 

The younger male growled, clawing over the sheets as he pushed back to Tyrian faster, panting hard as his vision went red and dark around the edges as he felt an oncoming orgasm building.  Tyrian bit and kissed over the backs of Jaune's shoulders, obeying the boy's silent command as he pinned Jaune down and began thrusting furiously, his tail curling ridged over his head as he mumbled nonsensical praises to his golden boy just under his breath.

Jaune's vision nearly went black as he finally came, his tail curling in the same ridgedness as Tyrian's with the stinger dangerously close to the Faunus's ribs but not pricking.  Every nerve in his body was raw and hot before they began to cauterize and settle.  His thoughts, however, were nothing but a heavy, black void numb to the world.

Half of him hid in that void, suffocated in horror and shame and terror.

 

_'......what have I done....?'_

 

The other half WAS that suffocating void, both comforting and oppressing in its thickness.

 

_**THIS IS WHAT I NEEDED** _

_**IT'S PERFECT** _

_**ABSOLUTELY** _

_**PERFECT** _

 

The suffocation lifted, and Jaune was lying out on the sheet pile, almost cocooned from behind with Tyrian's own body.  The Faunus was petting his skin and nuzzling his face, tail swishing lazily on the sheets like an aimless snake. 

"You're so lovely, my precious golden boy," Tyrian murmured, kissing Jaune's neck.  "Perfect, in every possible way...beautiful in every possible way..."  His golden eyes glimmered in reverence.  "I knew you'd be the one."

Jaune's own blue eyes were clouded and glazed, unfocused as though processing what he had experienced, but also what Tyrian had told him.  After several long moments, he reached a hand back and touched Tyrian's face, letting his hand rest before stroking it to the Faunus's hair, which had become undone from its braid.  Tyrian's eyes flicked to the hand before he smiled, turning his head to kiss it lightly.

"You're all mine," he chittered, stroking his hands over Jaune's hips.  "All mine."

He turned Jaune's face to his, kissing him hard and purring when he felt Jaune reciprocate.  His Lady hadn't given him a time frame in which to enjoy his time with his golden boy...and he could stand to push his luck for once. 

Jaune shuddered softly, feeling Tyrian shift around to finish undressing completely before turning attention back to him, seeing golden eyes positively shining with worship.

For him.

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! This isn't really a fish for reviews, but I'd like to hear from you guys! I know the direction of where this story is going, but if there's anything specific you'd like more in-depth and highlighted, let me know!

Mercury walked through the dark candle-lit corridors, half-expecting to see glowing eyes staring at him from the dark corners. It wouldn't have been the first time when he'd been sent out on this unpleasant chore to retrieve Tyrian from his rooms, and he had hoped the previous time had been the last. Obviously not.

His palms were sweating slightly as he drew closer to Tyrian's room, dread crawling up his spine in a way being near Salem couldn't quite compare.  Mostly because Tyrian was the type of dread that seemed more REAL than anything else Mercury had been exposed to since childhood.  The Grimm had been a nuisance at best, mere punching bags that he looked FORWARD to facing in lieu of what else awaited him.

He clenched his hands tightly, steeling himself mentally to avoid chickening out and being at the mercy of both Salem's ire and Emerald's amusement, although at this point he was sure Emerald could empathize with him not wanting to be near the Faunus at all, especially after that horrendous display back in the training chamber.

The sight of Jaune Arc's lower back being torn open and a tail bursting out in a spray of blood and flesh would haunt his nightmares forever, but nowhere near as deeply as seeing Jaune being molested by the scorpion freak.

He wasn't an idiot.  While he didn't know if Tyrian just went for the YOUNG ones, he knew for certain that the Faunus had sights set on those with a certain delicate beauty, himself included a couple years ago.  Walking into that first meeting among Salem's faction of freaks had been almost humdrum had it not been for Tyrian staring at him for uncomfortably long periods of time.

Staring turned to sizing up, which turned to licking his lips whenever Mercury had been unfortunate enough to make eye contact.  The first time he'd been sent to fetch Tyrian from his room when no one else was available, Mercury almost ran away from it all, not caring if Cinder or Salem had caught him, just so long as they didn't send Tyrian.  The Faunus had invited him into the room and when Mercury declined, he made SURE to creep far too close behind him and even backed him into a corner before Emerald had been sent to see what was taking so long.

Mercury was no stranger to stalking and molestation.  Marcus had made SURE to give his son a thorough 'training' in getting close to a victim in order to kill them, even if it meant getting in all the way.  Mercury had no particular favor for men or women, but he had SPECIFIC dislike for older men even LOOKING at him with more than innocent curiosity in their eyes.

Tyrian had no innocence.  He KILLED innocence and defiled it, and Mercury was 100% SURE the Faunus had done that more than once.

At any other point in time, Mercury would be GRATEFUL that it wasn't him that time.  But the situation was wrong in a way that left a lingering foulness in his mouth and a bad vision every time he closed his eyes.  He didn't get to know Jaune much during his espionage at Beacon, but from observation alone he saw the guy as earnest, dedicated, and harboring a natural knack for leadership under the right circumstances.  While he knew Jaune had more than one skeleton in his closet, the guy really was the golden boy of Beacon.

And Mercury was 90% sure that Jaune was going to be the one picked for Tyrian's 'reward'.  The other 10% was Lie Ren, but that soon proved completely wrong.  Tyrian had his eye on Jaune the whole time, and showed his willingness to have what it was he wanted in spite of anything else. 

Forcing Jaune to ingest Grimm ichor, however, was something Mercury did not see coming at all.  And thinking that at some point it could have been HIM Tyrian would ask Salem for...

The thought almost made him vomit.  He knew exactly what Tyrian had taken Jaune away to do three days ago, and while his morals were dark grey at BEST...Jaune didn't deserve that.  While he'd never personally jump in to take Jaune's place, Mercury would still it rather not have happened to him.

He clenched his teeth as Tyrian's door came into view, psyching himself up just to lift his hand and knock on the door.  Two quick knocks, and he took a step back to wait.  He didn't have to wait long before he heard the deadbolt unlock and the door open.  His mentally-prepared statement of Salem wanting Tyrian to come to the meeting hall poste haste died in his throat when he looked up.

Instead of Tyrian, Jaune was standing in the doorway.

Mercury took another step back, reflexively looking the opposing boy over for signs of threat or weapon in hand, but his quick observation brought up more than just sign for aggression.  Jaune was shirtless, his skin bare of any marring or bruising whatsoever as though nothing had been done to him at all.  The sight of a thick black scorpion tail hung loosely around his hips let Mercury know otherwise. 

Contrary to what Mercury had expected, Jaune looked like he had just stepped out of the shower, if the dampness of his hair were any indication.  The black roots made his golden hair look darker, sticking to his forehead and nearly obscuring his eyes.  The stare was steely and unyielding as he stared down at Mercury ( _Gods, did the guy get that much taller?_ ), making Mercury feel like he was being looked THROUGH rather than AT.  The eyes flicked over Mercury, and he realized that Jaune was sizing him up.

 _For what?_ he asked himself, though he really didn't want to know the answer.

Finally, Jaune actually spoke.  "Yeah?"

Mercury's jaw twitched, his hands flexing at his sides.  This didn't seem right, he thought.  Jaune was almost boredly at ease, like Mercury had been sent to disturb him in his own room.  He didn't act like a kid who had just been turned into a monster and taken away to satisfy a deviant's perverse whims.  Mercury didn't want to think about it, it was the LAST thing he wanted to spend time and energy and mental health pondering. 

He forced his hands to unclench, straightening his back.  "Salem wants Tyrian in the meeting hall," he stated.  "It's time."

Mercury swore he saw Jaune's blue eyes deepen a shade, but he DEFINITELY saw his eyes narrow before going back to the almost-dead bored default.  "...alright."  He took a step back to shut the door, and Mercury heard Tyrian's voice from inside.

"What was it, my dearest?"

Mercury didn't want to stay to hear more.  He pivoted on heel and made his way back to Cinder, keeping his eyes forward and guard up.  His mind began wandering just as fast as he was walking, despite not wanting it to.

_What was going on?_

_What happened to Jaune?_

And a part of him really, REALLY didn't want to know.

* * *

 

It still took nearly another hour for Tyrian to come down, and that hour was the worst waiting period for everyone involved.

Ruby was seated on a dim crystal that was more show than function, keeping her aura down instead of stealing it completely as she was tied to it.  She didn't know if it was a last kindness or a show of cruel amusement, but she had been allowed a last meal that she instead shared with everyone else.  A last meal wasn't a necessity when she was about to die, and the others hadn't been informed yet that this was the day of her execution.

She knew her Uncle Qrow had an inkling of what was to come but he said nothing to Ren and Nora, something she was grateful for.  They had already lost Jaune and no one had seen him or Tyrian for three days.  

It was terrifying, thinking about what was happening.  No matter how strong she tried to stay for her new team, she was broken and sobbing inside.  For all she knew, Jaune could be dead after all that.  All too late did she regret not begging to take his place.  Her fate was already sealed here, at least Jaune would have been with his team.

Ren and Nora had been inconsolable for the past few days, taking to shouting at anyone in Salem's faction who appeared and demanding where Jaune was.  At the very least, Ruby recalled, Emerald and Mercury looked just as disturbed as they did, and could tell them nothing.

And here she sat now, alternating between staring at her hands and looking up at what remained of RNJR and Qrow and praying with all her might that Salem would keep her word and let them go.  

Cinder was looking increasingly impatient, pacing around as she waited for Tyrian to arrive.  Emerald and Mercury kept their distance, not wanting to anger the Maiden, and Salem's only indication of impatience was sidelong glances at the door every ten minutes or so.

At last, Tyrian arrived.

He swung open the doors, his tail swaying lazily behind him as he surveyed the group and walked inside.  Everyone noticed that his braid was undone and instead hung in a ponytail while the slight stiffness of it indicated that it was freshly washed.  He gave Salem a bow, his ever-present grin gleaming.  "My apologies for the wait, my Lady," he said, straightening up.  "We had to freshen up and get dressed."

Salem's brow arched slightly.  "'We', Tyrian?" she inquired, looking over to the door as more footsteps echoed through.  

Jaune walked into the room, wearing a set of Tyrian's spare clothes paired with his own armor and boots, his black tail curled loosely around his hips to be out of the way.  His eyes and visage were expressionless as he made his way further in, standing by Tyrian silently.

"What is HE doing here?" Cinder hissed, clenching her hand.  "You should have kept your toy in your room, you--"  Tyrian cut her off with a hiss, his tail poised over his head.

"My darling golden boy is no toy, you little brat!" he snarled, actually making her take a step back at the sudden venomous purple that entered his eyes.  "He is my beautiful, perfect partner who shall be at my side forever!"  He shifted his tail to curl around Jaune's waist, his eyes turning back to gold.  "Not that you would understand a precious treasure when you see it."

"Jaune!" Nora called out, tugging at the restraints that bound her hands behind her back.  "Jaune, c'mon!  What are you DOING?"  Tears filled her eyes when Jaune didn't so much as look at her, remaining still and unfazed by her cries.  "JAUNE!"

"Nora, stop..." Ren murmured, pain lacing his tone.  "He's not the same, just stop...!"  Nora ignored him, calling out for him several more times before Jaune's lack of response finally kicked in for her.  She slumped back to the floor, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

Ruby stared desperately at Jaune, hoping-praying-that she would see some spark, some sign that this was still HIM, that there was hope left for him.  But all she saw was silence in his expressionless face and a dimness in his blue eyes.  Absolutely no sign that he was with his team again, no sign that he heard Nora's cries for him.

In that moment, Ruby truly wished he HAD died, just to spare the pain of having to see THIS instead.

"Enough."  Salem stood, pacing silently to Jaune and Tyrian, looking them both over.  "Is he truly to your liking, Tyrian?"

The Faunus beamed, curling his arms around Jaune and nuzzling the boy's golden hair.  "He is," he purred.  "He's been nothing but heaven for me, open and willing for everything!"  He squealed with delight, kissing Jaune's cheek.  "I've been teaching him so much, and he's such a fast learner!"

Salem's eyes narrowed by a fraction.  "Teaching him?"  Tyrian nodded.

"Yes!  He is gaining so much control over his tail!  And he's incredibly strong, so full of potential in combat!"  He purred, smiling.  "I can't wait for him to make his first kill."

Next to him, Jaune's eyes flickered with the first sign of life, the feel of it being...anticipating.  It was a feel that Ren himself picked up on, to his absolute dread.  In turn, he saw Jaune pause before looking his way.  It took a moment to realize that Jaune had picked up on HIS dread.

Like a Grimm.

He lowered his head, tears welling up in his eyes.  _To hell with being brave_ , he thought to himself.  To hell with EVERYTHING.

Salem made a thoughtful sound before turning and making her way back to her seat.  "Very well then," she intoned.  "If you insist on him being at your side, be sure to train him well enough to keep up with you.  He is your responsibility."  She sat down, turning to Emerald and holding out a red cloth.  "Put this over the girl's eyes.  I will not risk her using them again."  

Emerald swallowed hard, shakily taking the cloth and walking over to Ruby, averting her eyes as to not have to look at the despair in Ruby's.  She quietly tied the cloth around Ruby's eyes, biting her lip when she heard Ruby begin to sniffle.

Gods abandoned, she was going soft.  

She turned away and hurriedly walked back to Mercury, keeping her eyes from Ruby.  She didn't want to see this, or the reactions of the rest of the team.  Salem gave a soft smile then turned to Cinder.  "When you're ready."

Cinder stepped forward, holding out her hands and forming a bow and arrow from molten glass.  At the sight of the weapons, Ren and Nora began shouting and screaming for her to stop.  Qrow, even knowing how useless the fight was, thrashed in his own bindings, snarling out curses and threats, feeling his own Semblance inadvertently flare and could only hope Cinder would take her only good eye out, but with the crystals around him tampering his aura, it was too much to hope.

"I'll be sure to enjoy clipping your wings, little bird," Cinder said with a self-satisfied smirk, lifting the bow and arrow and taking aim.  "After I burn your eyes right out of your head.  Look carefully now, it's the last thing you'll ever see--"

She suddenly froze, her body going rigid and her hand loosening around the arrow to make it fly and miss Ruby by not even an inch, instead shattering the window behind the girl.  Cinder felt her insides go liquid hot, her eyes flicking down and seeing a golden stinger embedded several inches into her abdomen.  Her eyes slowly crawled over the extended tail and to the boy attached, seeing his normally-blue eyes now glowing a bright red.  She didn't have time to properly react before the stinger was yanked out and the entire tail attached whipped into her, sending her flying right into Salem.

Jaune didn't pause a moment after stinging Cinder, racing forward and grabbing Ren and Nora, using his tail to hook around Ruby, and threw them out the broken window.  He then ran to Qrow and grabbed a sharp hunk of black crystal and sliced his bindings off, snatching him up off of the floor.

"Make yourself useful and get them up!" Jaune snapped, hurling Qrow out of the window too before turning to the remaining faction, his tail curled over his head and stance splayed wide and low in a threatening way that DARED them to fight back.

Emerald and Mercury were backed up as far as they could go in the room, not wanting to challenge Jaune in the least.  Salem had pushed Cinder off of her, standing with a black aura of command and dread, her eyes glowing a blazing red.  "YOU WILL STAND DOWN," she boomed, gesturing for the Grimm in Jaune to obey.  Jaune's stinger lowered slightly, but Jaune himself remained where he was, his eyes blazing with defiance.

The brief moment of legitimate surprise from Salem was all he needed to turn and leap out of the window, landing hard on the ground in front of his own group.

Qrow had indeed gotten everyone up, feeling some irony in the luck of it all of the window only being three stories' worth up in the castle for everyone to land without much harm done to them.  Ren had stuck his landing and aided Nora in catching Ruby before Qrow was able to get down and untie them.  Now all four stared at Jaune, not knowing what to say or how to feel.

Jaune, however, didn't waste time with pleasantries.  "GO!" he shouted, being the end of the group to deter any threats from behind.

* * *

 

Back in the castle, Salem's hands were clenched tightly, her eyes still glowing with rage as she took a moment to assess the situation at hand and what had transpired.

Jaune was more in command than his new Grimm half.  He had perfectly played the part of a willing tribute to her side, waiting for everyone's guard to be down before striking and saving his friends.  The sheer amount of planning and preparation of circumstantial placement was, admittedly, impressive.  He had even managed to fool...

She paused, glancing at the room behind her.  Emerald and Mercury had fled.

Tyrian was nowhere to be seen.

Her eyes narrowed to slits as she turned and walked over to the only remaining member of her faction left in the room.

Cinder was sprawled back twitching on the floor, her breathing wet and raspy with specks of blood spraying from her lips and nose.  Salem looked down at her, expression neither contemptuous or pitying.

"...the Deathstalker's sting is near-instantaneously fatal," she said quietly.  "Though some are unfortunate enough to be scarcely pierced, and the venom begins to liquefy the organs of the victim...five minutes is usually all they have left to live."

She knelt down next to Cinder, then reached into a pocket of her dress and pulled out a pitch-black crystal, much darker than the others surrounding them.  "I won't forget everything you've done for me, Cinder," she said, putting the crystal over Cinder's chest.  Cinder's eyes widened as the aural power of the Maiden began to drain from her.  Her vision began to go red as blood pooled in her eyes.  Salem stood up, looking thoughtful...and mildly amused.  She put the crystal into a black drawstring bag, turning away from Cinder, not bothering to watch as she waved her hand absently, a hazy pool of black appearing under Cinder and Grimm claws pulling her down.

"The only reason why I am not pursuing them," she said, pocketing the bag and stepping out of the room to prepare, "is that it would be a better punishment for their team to be torn to bloody pieces from the inside out."

And Cinder's vision went black.

 


	7. Chapter 7

No one knew exactly how long they had been running before Ruby was the one to collapse, struggling to breathe through her break in aura and adrenaline combine with panic of the unknown.  Everyone else skidded to a halt and doubled back to go to her, looking around exhausted for sign of a Grimm threat.

Luckily, there were none.

The blackened crystals surrounding the blooded atmosphere gave no comfort mentally or physically, but there were no signs of Grimm around them.  Qrow quickly found a large rock structure to rest under, and everyone huddled under it in terrified silence.

Only Jaune looked well enough to stand guard and look around, and he did so, keeping his eye out for trouble.  He sat on the structure silently, his tail unfurled from his hips and curled in preparation to attack if need be.  The group took a long time to recover and Qrow nodded off more than once with Ruby while Nora remained almost catatonic.  Ren finally managed to sift through his senses and find some equilibrium of his thoughts and emotions before slipping out from under the structure and standing a short length from Jaune.

After several long moments, he spoke.  "...did you plan all of that?"

Jaune's tail swayed slightly, nodding without looking away from the horizon he was focused on.  "Yeah," he replied.  "I did." 

More silence.

Ren took a deep breath and let it out, sitting down on the structure an arm's length from Jaune.  "...I thought...I..."  He clenched his eyes shut.  "...are you okay, Jaune?"

Jaune's tail stilled, his head turning to give Ren a sidelong look.  "That's a loaded question, Ren," he replied.  "And an impossible one to answer."  He turned back to the horizon, the reddish glow reflecting eerily in his blue eyes.  Ren lowered his own eyes to his hands, contemplating them silently.

He had been far too quick to assess Jaune's condition.  He was a master of emotion masking himself, and he should have seen the signs and methods instead of writing Jaune off as a lost cause.  In his defense, Jaune WAS part Grimm now, and this Salem was the master of the Grimm.  But Jaune had displayed the cunning strategy he was made team leader for, and played the part perfect.

 _Too perfectly_ , Ren thought bitterly to himself.  He wasn't so much bitter at Jaune as he was at the scorpion Faunus or Salem herself.  In order to fool THEM, Jaune had to have done unspeakable things in order to save everyone else.

It wasn't something he wanted to think about.

All he wanted to do now was get out of this hellscape.  It didn't even MATTER where exactly in Remnant this place was, as long as he was OUT.

"...we should be going," Ren said.  "It can't be safe here."  He stood up off the rock and turned to rouse Nora from her silent stupor, but paused when he saw that Jaune didn't move.  "...Jaune?  We have to go."

Jaune shook his head.  "Not yet," he replied.  "This is the birthplace of Grimm, Ren.  We won't last without our weapons."

Ren clenched his hands, the emptiness without his father's dagger being made known all the more at that moment.  He frowned, scanning the area for any sign of Grimm and thankfully found none for the moment.  "...do you know where our weapons were taken?" he asked. 

Again, Jaune shook his head.  "No.  I had to get everyone out first."

".....first?"

Ren jumped when he heard someone come around the corner behind him, whipping around and seeing Tyrian standing there, manic grin in place and tail swaying behind him. 

He was not alone in his reaction, as Qrow jerked awake and stumbled up in front of Ruby in a protective stance, his maroon eyes glowering at the Faunus.  Tyrian paid no heed to them, instead focusing his attention on Jaune as he reached behind him and picked up a couple of large satchels.  "I apologize for the wait, dearest," he stated, tossing the satchels to Ren and Qrow.  The bags landed with metallic clangs, and one of Ren's pistols slid out when a bag slipped open.

Jaune hopped down from his spot, walking over to the satchels and rifling through them, taking out everyone's weapons including his own sheathed sword, clipping it to his belt before distributing them back to their proper owners. 

Ren disregarded his pistols and instead focused on his father's dagger, letting out a shaky sigh when it was back in his hands.  Qrow held his collapsed sword tightly in his hand, his eyes never leaving Tyrian. 

"What the hell is HE doing here?" he hissed to Jaune, who was putting Ruby's sniper rifle and Nora's grenade launcher next to their respective users.  Jaune picked a satchel back up and tossed it over his shoulder.

"He was bringing our weapons," he replied.  "Like I told Ren, we wouldn't last a full day here without them."

Qrow's finger twitched toward the scythe release on his sword.  "You KNOW what I meant," he bit out.  Tyrian rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner, strolling over to loop an arm around Jaune's waist.

"Really, little bird, you would expect me to NOT be at my beautiful golden boy's side?" he queried, putting on a faux-affronted look.  "You wound me, truly you do."

Ren edged away from the two scorpions, his hands tight on his pistols at the display and wishing dearly to empty his Dust cartridge supply into Tyrian's face.  Jaune gave him a glance that again reminded Ren of a Grimm's sense, which didn't help his already-singed nerves whatsoever.

Ruby crawled out from underneath the rock formation, holding her rifle to her chest tightly.  "...why are you helping us?" she quietly demanded.  "I...I mean..."  She trailed off, seeing Tyrian's golden eyes shift with several tones she couldn't quite place, lowering her own eyes to avoid having to meet them.  "...you're helping us escape..."

Tyrian smiled, his tail looping itself around his waist.  "I am aiding in the leaving of Jaune," he replied.  "Anything else is circumstantial."

" _Meaning?"_ Qrow bit out impatiently. Tyrian gave him a coy look before reaching over and booping his nose. 

"Meaning, little bird, that it's none of YOUR business what MY business is," he stated, tossing his ponytail over his shoulder haughtily before turning his attention back to Jaune.  "It did take me a bit longer than necessary, dearest...I had something else I dragged along."  He lifted his head and gave a short whistle to a weave of rocks a short distance away.

Everyone tensed with hands on their weapons when Mercury and Emerald came out from behind the rocks.  Ren had his pistols up and aimed before Jaune threw out his hand for him to stop.  "Give them a chance to explain, Ren," he said, it sounding more like a command than a request.  Ren glowered but conceded, lowering his pistols but keeping his fingers on the triggers.  Jaune turned to them, noticing that Mercury had his hand clasped tightly around Emerald's arm tight enough to definitely bruise.  Emerald looked BARELY able to hold onto her emotions.

Jaune's eyes narrowed, his tail twitching slightly.  "Ren, can you calm her down?"  Ren gave him a look that plainly demanded if Jaune had completely and utterly lost it, but Jaune wasn't having it.  "We are currently in the birthplace of Grimm, and if I can literally taste her emotions, then she's going to summon a hoard here in no time.  It's not for her, it's for all of us."

Ren clenched his jaw tightly, holstering one of his pistols to walk over and put his hand on Emerald's shoulder, activating his Semblance.  Almost immediately, Emerald's body relaxed, the panic and anguish fading in her eyes.  Mercury sighed, letting go of her arm which had indeed bruised to the shape of his hand.

"...it was the only way to keep her grounded while we ran," he said, looking mildly sorry for the mark.  Qrow scowled, keeping his sword on hold. 

"Why didn't you just knock her out then?" he asked.

Mercury ran a hand through his hair, sitting down hard on the ground.  "She can make nightmares more real even in her own head when she's panicked enough," he retorted.  "It would have been an even worse honing signal for Grimm if that happened."  He rubbed his eyes, his face paler than usual and looking close to losing grip of his own emotions.

Ruby bit her lip hard, curiosity of this new development overshadowing the bitterness of the two's deception.  "...why are you here?" she demanded quietly.  "What's going on--"

"Cinder's gone."  Emerald slumped to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them tightly.  "She's gone...she's gone and..."  A shudder ran through her, and Ren poured more aura into his Semblance for her.  Mercury scoffed and finished the sentence. 

"With Cinder gone, we're of no real use for Salem," he added.  "We weren't loyal to HER.  It was Cinder who recruited us and gave us a purpose."  He spat bitterly to the side.  "Even if she was just using us.  But Emerald was the one who really cared.  And Salem knows it."

Ruby nodded slowly.  "...so you ran."  Mercury gave a brief jerky nod in return, scowling at the horizon. 

"We ran into HIM," he said, jerking his head in Tyrian's direction.  "He's the only one who knows a way out of this hellhole.  What choice did we have?"

Everyone sat in silence for a good long while before turning to Tyrian, who just gave a knowing grin.  

"He IS correct," he told them.  "I do know the way out."  He hopped up on the structure, scanning the horizon for a moment.  "This is an actual place in the world, but it has pockets through the dimensional rift that takes the newborn Grimm to wherever they decide to go."  He pointed in a seemingly random direction.  "That is the direction to the Anima's veil."

The group looked in that direction as a whole, seeing nothing but noting Tyrian's confidence in direction.  "...so...Grimm are born here..." Nora began slowly, "...and then they go to a portal to other parts of the world?"

"Exactly!" Tyrian chirped.  "Very simple."

Qrow scowled, rubbing his temple.  "I wouldn't call it that," he grumbled.  "Alright then.  Let's go and get out of here."

"Might as well," Jaune said.  "The sooner we get out of here, the better.  Ren, I hate to ask, but you're going to have to give everyone cover for awhile until we're in the clear."

Ren did not look too thrilled about that, already weary from covering Emerald in and of itself, but he nodded curtly, knowing the risk of anyone going out there without it.  "Alright," he replied.  "I'll conserve it until we spot some Grimm."

"That would be best," Jaune said, nodding back and turning to Tyrian.  "Let's go."

Tyrian beamed, taking Jaune's hand and kissing it.  "As you wish, beloved," he purred before turning and heading off in the direction he earlier indicated.  Jaune nodded to everyone to follow, bringing up the rear as a form of protection, and Qrow stuck close by Ruby and Nora as Ren kept by Emerald to keep her calm.  Mercury walked behind them, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else with anyone else than here with them.

***

Tyrian walked for what felt like hours, the horizon never changing and the moon never setting, making it seem even longer than what it probably was.  Only the different formations of rocks and crystals jutting from the ground gave notice that anything had changed, but it didn't help with the constant feeling of dread and boredom.  Only Jaune and Tyrian seemed unaffected, keeping watch from in front and behind for the safety of the group.

Ren looked close to collapsing, having nearly completely spent his aura in keeping everyone hidden from the odd stray Grimm that had appeared, and was close to his last leg on keeping it up when Tyrian suddenly signaled to stop.

The Faunus hopped up onto a large rock formation, peering over it, his tail uncurling and swaying almost excitedly.  "There it is," he stated.  Qrow crept up the formation and looked over it, his eyes widening and face paling.

There were dozens upon dozens of Grimm collected in one spot, ranging from smaller Creeps to huge Nevermores that crawled on wingclaw toward a seemingly empty space--only to vanish into thin air.

Oh gods.

"What is it?" Ruby whispered loudly up to Qrow, who slid back down the formation and ran a shaking hand through his hair.  

"Grimm," he replied.  "A...LOT of them."  He paused, thinking back to them vanishing.  "...but I think that portal he was talking about really is there."  He sat back hard against the formation, swallowing.  "...in the state we're in...I don't think we can make it past that bunch, plus what's already on the other side."  He looked at Ren, who appeared close to passing out at the thought of having to increase his output even a little just to get them over.

Tyrian hopped down, beaming.  "Never you fret, little bird," he said, making his way over to Jaune.  "It will only take shooing the ones on this side away, and scattering the others on the opposite side.  Nothing to it."

"'Nothing to it', he says," Qrow grumbled.  "And how the hell are we supposed to do that?"

"Simple," Tyrian replied, gesturing to Jaune.  "Our glorious golden boy will make a clear path here, and I will scatter them on the other side."  His blades snapped out from his vambraces.  "Give me five minutes, and the rest will follow."

"Jaune can't keep them scattered long enough for a handful of exhausted humans to get by!" Nora stated, sitting back hard.  "How are we supposed to get across fast enough?"

"With Ruby," Jaune said, looking to her.  "She can launch everyone with her scythe to get to the other side.  And Qrow can just fly.  The Grimm won't notice him in that form."

Everyone looked at Qrow, who stared at Jaune.  Then everyone else stared at Qrow.  

"...what does he mean?" Ruby asked, but Jaune brushed off his pants and began making his way to the other side of the formation.  "Jaune, wait--!"

"He'll be fine, delicate flower," Tyrian said, smiling after the boy.  "And best we begin before your friend loses all of his aura."  He nodded to Ren before turning and following Jaune.  "Remember, five minutes!"  He waved and turned around the rock formation after Jaune.

Qrow scowled, standing and going back up to the top of the formation to look and see just what those two were doing.  He remained silent, watching Tyrian stay a short distance from Jaune as the younger walked silently to the crowd of Grimm and right into the fray.  The Grimm only gave him a glance before going back to their own devices, not bothered by him in the least.

He watched as Jaune began herding the smaller Grimm away much like one might do to cows or sheep, nudging them along with his sheathed sword.  The small Grimm merely looked bothered, but not enough to actually attack.  Little by little, a small path was formed that grew slightly wider, enough so that Tyrian had a clear line to go through.

The Faunus crouched down, waiting until most of the Grimm were focused elsewhere, and bolted down the cleared path, catching only a few Grimm's attentions as they went after him and vanished through the veil.

Qrow scowled to himself, but conceded to the plan at hand.  "Time at five minutes," he said, giving everyone a brief look.  "We need to decide quick who goes first."

"It should be Emerald," Mercury spoke up.  "The longer she's here, the more she's a liability, and your buddy looks to be on his last speck of aura as it is."

Ruby nodded, biting her lip.  "...Nora, do you think you could carry Ren with you?" she asked.  Nora nodded, putting her arm around Ren to support him up.  

"I'm fast enough as it is and I still have aura to spare," Mercury said.  "You won't need to launch me." 

"Alright.  ...Uncle Qrow--"

"Jaune's right, so don't worry about me," he spoke up quickly.  "But what about YOU?  I don't suppose he thought it through enough to take you into consideration."

Ruby was stung slightly by Qrow's bitterness.  "...Uncle Qrow, Jaune won't leave me behind," she said firmly.  "I'll get through, I promise.  YOU need to make sure everyone else is okay on the other side."  She stood up, reforming the rifle into her scythe, noting a new cartridge in it for the first time and wondering if the others had the same.  "Just let me know when five minutes is up."

Qrow looked ready to argue, but didn't have the heart to at that time, just giving Ruby a curt nod and keeping a mental timer on mind until five minutes was up.  "Alright."

Ruby braced herself, swinging the scythe behind her and cocking it.  "Alright Emerald, just jump on and I'll launch you off."  Emerald looked incredibly dubious, but considering the alternative options, she pulled together what little resolve she had and put her hands to her pistols behind her before jumping and landing on Ruby's scythe.  At the same time, Ruby swung around and fired off for more momentum, sending Emerald zooming right through the veil in less than two seconds. 

Nora picked Ren up, waiting for Ruby to draw her scythe back again and repeated the process, jumping off as hard as she could to make up for the extra weight being launched.  They too vanished into the veil.

Mercury looked over the edge of the rock to make sure the coast was clear before launching off with his own boots and making a breakneck pace to the portal, having to dodge only one Grimm before he made it.

Ruby turned to Qrow, who had yet to move.  "Uncle Qrow, go!  You need to go make sure they made it through alright!"  Qrow looked extremely reluctant, but he knew Ruby was right; the last thing he wanted was any of those kids near Tyrian without backup.  He nodded quickly and jumped up onto the rock before leaping off, a bird appearing a moment later and flying at top speed to the portal.

So many questions that would have to wait for later, Ruby thought as she hurried around the rock, wincing when she tried to activate her Semblance and her aura only sputtered.  A brief moment of panic began to creep up her spine when Jaune appeared next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't panic," he said quietly, keeping his eyes on the Grimm.  "Stay near me and keep your movements steady."  He began to walk with her toward the veil and Ruby tried to follow his advice, still feeling heavy cold sweats regardless.  She was surrounded by Grimm, her aura not even enough to reform after its break, and she was literally about to walk into the unknown.  

She glanced up at Jaune, stiffening when she saw his irises glowing red.  His hand squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, keeping her moving forward.  It had to be him using his Grimm aspects to keep her covered, she thought to herself.  Or at least she prayed that's what it was.  

After far too long walking among Grimm-infested land, they finally reached the veil, which up close looked like a shimmer in the air that went unnoticeable until she was REALLY looking at it.  She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, stepping forward with Jaune.

Much like walking through that cloaked Grimm, the oppressing air of Grimm infestation lifted, and she could actually BREATHE well enough again.  She opened her eyes and almost fell to her knees when instead of a forever-reddish atmosphere filled with barren wasteland and rocks, she saw twilight indigo in the sky, grass, trees, and flora on the ground.

Most importantly, though, she saw the rest of her team resting on the cool grass with Qrow watching over them a short distance from Tyrian, Emerald, and Mercury. 

Ruby was too tired to tear up or cry or do anything but just sit on the ground and be thankful she was out of there, alive, with her team and her uncle (for the most part) unhurt.

Qrow sat back hard on the ground, all fight leaving him as soon as he saw that Ruby was okay.  "...I don't know how, but we made it," he muttered to no one in particular. 

Nora groaned in agreement, flopping onto her back.  "...I want to sleep forever," she said.  Ren rested against a tree, glancing up at the sky.  

"...it's getting dark," he stated.  "...we should probably move to higher ground before it's pitch dark.  I don't feel safe around this...veil."

Tyrian sat himself down cross-legged on a rock.  "There's no need," he spoke up matter-of-factly.  "The veil shifts to another random location in Anima when night falls.  Makes for a nasty surprise to any village unfortunate enough to be nearby."  He stretched his arms over his head.  "Although I can't say exactly where we are now.  We could be ten klicks away from Mistral, or we could be on the other side of Anima."

Ruby sighed, sitting back against a tree of her own.  "Great," she murmured, though she could certainly say she'd rather be on the far end of Anima rather than wherever she HAD been.  "...we'll have a better view of the land in the morning, then."  She looked around before finding a small bundle of sticks, gathering them up.  "Anyone have any fire Dust?"

Tyrian beamed, raising his hand.  "Of course he does," muttered Ren.  Qrow scowled, standing shakily.  

"I can make fire well enough," he said icily.  He pointed in an arc between Jaune, Tyrian, Emerald, and Mercury.  "Pleasantries can wait until we've had some rest but until then I want you four to keep a distance from the rest of us."

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby yelped, but was silenced by a sharp look from him.  

"We are exhausted, aura almost gone, and I almost had to watch my niece be shot to death with an arrow by the woman YOU three-" here he pointed to Tyrian, Emerald, and Mercury "-worked for.  So forgive me if I'm not exactly the TRUSTING type at the moment."  He rubbed his still-sore sting wound as he turned his sword to a fallen tree branch, glancing at Jaune.  "And sorry to hurt your feelings, kid, but I trust you least of all."  He focused his attention back to the branch, cutting it into more manageable pieces.

Everyone was awkwardly silent before Tyrian stood up from the rock and walked over to Jaune, his expression, for once, one not of amusement.  "Let's go," he said, leading the younger scorpion to another clearing just past some trees within throwing distance, but just enough away to possibly sate Qrow's distrust.  Emerald and Mercury looked between the two groups before following them.

Ruby was at a loss for words, wanting to stand up for Jaune but knowing that Qrow's distrust was completely justified.  She herself lost faith in Jaune, and even now she didn't fully know what he was capable of, especially since he seemed more than willing to allow formers of Salem's faction into their group.  She looked over to Nora and Ren; the former looking emotionally broken while the latter looked like he agreed 98% with Qrow's sentiment.  

She sat in silence, hugging her knees as she watched Qrow make a fire, and saw a flicker of another fire through the trees from the other group.  While she had her auxiliary team plus extra all within a good reach, she currently never felt more alone.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JFC, I didn't mean for this chapter to be so long. XD Anyway, hope you enjoy it.

Mercury honestly couldn't decide if being out of the range of Huntsmen he had once befriended in espionage was for the best, or for worse.  He was starting to think that taking his chances with Ruby and the others would be worth it to not be near the two scorpions, but his choices were in fact limited.

He could tell just from the way Qrow LOOKED at them that he was barely restraining himself from possibly breaking kneecaps and letting them all suffer before Grimm came.  Ruby might have been a more forgiving if now wary sort, but Ren and Nora were definitely not.  The three-to-one probability of a fight was not worth it, not when he was THIS mentally and emotionally exhausted.

He leaned against a tree and sighed, at least grateful for the campfire that was going to warm his bones.  The atmosphere of THAT place took all personal warmth away and always left him feeling like his insides had gone cold and were artificially reheated in dirty microwave.  This was much nicer.

Less nice that right across the campfire was Tyrian, who was cuddling Jaune to him and humming as though to sooth the burn of the harsh words Qrow had spoken to him.  The PDA was bad enough as it was, but at least it was decent enough to not warrant blinding himself.  He turned his attention to Emerald, seeing her curled up closer to the fire and staring into it quietly like something to focus her mind on.  Good, he thought.  The last thing he wanted was another nightmare by proxy; he was tired to death of those.

"...Mercury."

His head shot up, feeling a chill down his spine when he saw Jaune staring at him.  He swallowed thickly, his body tensing.  "....what?" he demanded, hating the slight break in his voice. 

Jaune seemed to read the proverbial room and averted his eyes.  "I was asking if you were hungry," he said.  "Tyrian is going to get something to eat."

Mercury's stomach loudly growling at the mere MENTION of food answered that question, and Mercury didn't want to pull himself further into his little hell pit by answering.  Tyrian's grin was hell enough as it was as he hopped up and gave Jaune a kiss to the top of the head before slipping off silently into the forest.  Jaune reached over and grabbed the satchel he carried with him, rummaging around and fishing out a canteen of water, holding it out to Mercury.

Heavy silence ensued for the longest time before Mercury decided to put aside his pride in lieu of his own health, shifting over to get the canteen from Jaune.  He took a few heavy swigs, being reminded of just how thirsty he really was before finishing and lowering the canteen.  He flicked his eyes to Jaune, only to feel a twinge of familiar fear when he saw unblinking almost glowing eyes staring back.

"Don't do that," he snapped before he could stop himself.  Jaune blinked before lowering his gaze. 

"...sorry," he said.

“...whatever, it's fine.” He didn't very much like Jaune looking like a kicked puppy. Screw a Grimm scorpion tail, the guy could use guilt as a weapon. It was almost disgusting to think that he could GET why Tyrian...

No, not going down that train of thought. No.

“...I really am sorry.”

He looked up, seeing Jaune purposely looking at the fire to avoid making him uncomfortable again. “It wasn't the brightest plan, but it was what I had to do. I would have let you and Emerald in on it if I had time.”

“What do you care?” Mercury demanded weakly. “Not like we didn't infiltrate Beacon, set you all up to fail, and destroyed everything from the inside out and sent the world in chaos.”

Jaune was silent for a moment. “...would you have thought to do something like that WITHOUT Salem or Cinder?” he finally asked. Mercury scowled, answering with the obvious honesty.

“No. I wouldn't. But that doesn't make me a damsel in distress either. So WHY do you CARE?”  He crossed his arms, glowering at the fire.  "It's not like we were even friends, anyway."

Another long moment of awkward silence before Jaune sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.  "No, we weren't," he said.  "But you didn't want to be there.  You would have left if you hadn't been scared for your life.  You've done things you had to in order to survive, you both have."  He nodded to Emerald.  "...but I'm no better."  He looked wistfully through the trees at the other camp nearby.  "I can't take back what I did.  But I don't want to see anyone else hurt."

Mercury slumped further back against the tree, his head hurting from the contradiction of the earnest words coming from the monstrosity that spoke them.  He had a headache, he wanted to eat, and he wanted to get through the night in the hope that all of this had just been a bad dream.

The distant sound of an animal being slain let him know that Tyrian had probably found their next meal.  He was proven right when the Faunus came back a few minutes later carrying several headless rabbits in his hands.  The sight didn't bother Mercury; living in the mountains, he'd had to kill and prepare his own food often.  Marcus called it survival training; Mercury called it shitty parenting.  

Tyrian sat down in front of the fire and began messily dismembering the rabbits and pulling their skins off before cutting pieces off to spear on sticks to cook.  "How fortunate to find a small warren," he chirped.  "I did leave the little ones be.  Too small for anything useful."  He hummed as the meat began to sizzle, the aroma making even Emerald perk up slightly.  Tyrian picked one of the seared meat sticks up and held it out to Mercury, his golden eyes glinting from the fire's light.  "Still hungry, little quicksilver?"

Mercury visibly bristled at the pet name, but was saved a reaction when Emerald snatched the stick for herself, eating ravenously.  He felt his ire die down somewhat as he let her, knowing that Emerald couldn't stand being hungry.  After a couple days of barely being able to eat followed by hours of trekking Grimm wastelands, she had to be starving.  Fortunately for him, Tyrian had turned his attentions back to Jaune, leaving him free to select a stick for himself to chew on.  It could use more salt, but he wasn't going to complain anytime soon.

He ate through his lingering diminished appetite, seeing Tyrian hand-feed Jaune in the corner of his eye.  What was worse, Jaune was LETTING him.  He gnawed on the end of the stick with his molars wondering just WHY Jaune was LETTING him.

A sudden sobering thought struck him that Jaune was purposely giving Tyrian what he wanted to keep him sated.  

It sent a chill up his spine to think about it; Tyrian was not shy in letting the world know everything he would do for his 'goddess'...what was it then that turned Tyrian's worship from Salem to Jaune?

Appetite dead and gone.

He tossed the stick into the fire, turning his back to it and letting it warm him as he made himself comfortable enough to attempt sleep.  He kept his ears open for any sign of threats, instead hearing Emerald take another few sticks for herself and huddle back with them in a soft patch of grass, as well as Tyrian's soft low purring and indiscernible sweet nothings.  _Good_ , he thought.  He didn't WANT to hear.

And he didn't want to know. 

 

* * *

 

The dead of night was thick with silence broken only by the crackling of the embers that still gave off comfortable warmth.  Mercury's tired eyes gave a cursory flick around to see if any Grimm eyes were present and when he saw none, he curled up to attempt sleeping again when he heard obvious lust-filled purrs from Tyrian.

Oh gods, why.

He silently pushed himself up and glanced over, grimacing when he saw Tyrian holding Jaune to him tightly, running his hand up Jaune's unarmored side, his tail curled around Jaune's.  Mercury looked over at Emerald, seeing her awake and catching her eye.  She bit her lip and nodded as she flicked her eyes to Tyrian and Jaune before standing.  Mercury stood too, getting that she was using her Semblance to mask their movements, and treaded through the woods to perhaps stay close to the other camp.

They were close to the clearing when they heard a soft click behind them; Mercury gave a quick look through the trees and saw that Ren was missing from the group.  Emerald and Mercury remained still as Ren stepped closer, his pistols at the ready.  "What do you want?" he demanded softly. 

Mercury sighed, too exhausted to even be an ass about it anymore.  "We want to sleep over on this side," he replied.  "Away from...what they're doing."

Emerald rubbed her arms, looking ready to collapse again from using her Semblance while still emotionally compromised.  "That's all we were doing," she said.  "We swear."

Ren was silent for a moment before Mercury heard him lower his pistols.  "Fine," he finally said, stepping around to face them.  "Qrow has next shift change, and I'll let him know."  He gestured to Emerald's pistols.  "Unload them and you can stay with us."

Emerald complied, taking out the still-full Dust cartridge and putting them in a separate pocket.  Ren gave them a jerky nod and jumped up silently into a low-hanging tree to get back to watch.  Mercury and Emerald found a spot still warm from the fire but away from the sleeping girls nearer to it and Qrow on the opposite side.  Emerald displayed her apparent exhaustion by leaning against him and falling right to sleep.  

But despite his own exhaustion, Mercury couldn't bring himself to close his eyes.

* * *

 

"Good morning, all!"

Mercury shot up from his reclined position against a tree trunk, sending Emerald sprawling next to him.  He was not alone in his reaction, seeing Ren and Nora jerk awake with hands on their weapons and Ruby attempting to untangle herself from her cape in a panic.

Tyrian walked to their clearing, holding what appeared to be two wild pheasants slung over his shoulder.  He was beaming like it was a holiday as he strode up to the dying embers of the fire and shot it with his vambrance gun, igniting it back up again with fire Dust, just a moment before Qrow came running back to the clearing.  

"What the hell are you doing over here?" he demanded.  

"Why, I've come bearing a gift, little bird!" he replied, holding out the two pheasants.  "Food for everyone!"  He gestured to Ren.  "Would you mind handing over that knife, lotus?"

"YES, I mind!" Ren yelped, pressing his hand to his boot where the knife was safely holstered.  Tyrian shrugged, snapping out his blades.  

"Fair enough," he said, getting to cutting and plucking.  The stupor lasted for only a moment before Qrow stalked forward, standing just out of the Faunus's tail reach.  Tyrian glanced up, arching a brow.  "Yes?"

Qrow flexed his hand around his sword.  "First of all, WHY are you HERE?  Second of all, where is Jaune?  And thirdly-"  He was silenced by a shooing motion from Tyrian.

"You're too grouchy to talk to," the Faunus said flippantly before turning to Ruby.  "When the old bird is fully awake, tell him that I'm HERE with food, my beautiful golden boy is scouting ahead to get a layout of the land, and as soon as we're in a village, we're getting coffee."  He turned his attention back to the birds, plucking out some organs.  "Or it could be alcohol withdrawal.  A nasty habit, that.  Tsk tsk."

Ren gave Mercury a look that plainly asked how the hell they were supposed to deal with this.  Mercury just rolled his eyes and brushed off his pants.  He'd dealt with Tyrian enough for one lifetime.  Let the others bask in the insanity.

Tyrian was prepping the birds for fire-searing when Jaune came back, his armor back in place and his tail curled around his hips.  "There's a town about a mile ahead," he said, sitting down on a rock.  "But there's no one there."

Nora frowned, hugging her knees.  "Not a lot of abandoned towns that are still recognizable," she remarked.  "Could it be we're all the way back in Oniyuri?"

Jaune shook his head.  "Different layout," he said.  "It's not as old either.  And it's closer to the mountains.  You can't see them because of the canopy though."  He sat on the ground, his expression troubled.  Ruby nibbled her lip, wringing her hands into her cape.

"...is something wrong, Jaune?" she asked delicately.  Jaune's jaw twitched as he stared down at his hands.  

"...Grimm stay where there are aural memories of terrible atrocities and attacks," he said, sounding almost haunted.  "...but there are no Grimm around that town.  THAT'S what bothers me."  He swallowed, glancing at Ren.  "...Grimm rarely compete with each other unless it's a territorial dispute...or unless there's a higher tier of Grimm that's staked its mark there."

Everyone contemplated that bit of information while Tyrian continued to cook up the pheasants without a care in the world.  "It COULD be one of the Grimm Magnificum," he remarked, testing a bit of wing between his fingers.  Emerald and Mercury tensed while the others looked on in confusion.

"...the what?" Ruby queried.  Tyrian beamed at the attention.

"The Grimm Magnificum," he repeated.  "There's your average cookie-cutter Grimm...the Nevermores, the Beowolves, what have you...but the Magnificum are one-of-a-kind pearls in a sea of sand."  His expression went almost dreamy.  "I've never seen one for myself, but I can only IMAGINE how beautiful one must be!  How absolutely DREADFUL."

Qrow scowled, sticking his sword in the ground at the ready and crossing his arms.  "A lusus naturae then," he muttered.  "Perfect."  He glanced at Jaune.  "And you're CERTAIN?  No other Grimm, no people?"

Jaune nodded.  "Positive," he replied.  "But if I'm remembering correctly, those are the mountains that are close to Mistral.   If not right through that range, then enough so to follow on the other side until we get there."

Nora thought for a moment.  "...being on the other side...or even THROUGH those mountains...would be safer, right?" she asked.  "At very least if we get to a mountain peak, we'll have a much better view to work with, right?"

Qrow sighed, hanging his head.  "....right," he said.  He gave a sweeping look between Emerald, Mercury, Jaune, and Tyrian.  "...I suppose you'll all be coming too?"  The disdain was clearly evident in his tone, though only Tyrian seemed immune to it.  Jaune's eyes narrowed, his tail uncurling from his hips and swaying softly on the ground behind him.

"Of course I am," he said, insulted.  "I didn't spend months traveling with my team just to leave now.  And I'm not GOING to either."  He pinned Qrow with a stare that DARED him to contradict. 

Qrow glowered back but said nothing to him, turning to Emerald and Mercury.  "And you two?  Can't imagine you sticking around."

Mercury felt a stab of intense ire for this guy.  "Two kids wandering around Grimm-infested wilderness?" he snarked back.  "Way to step up and be an adult, pops.  If I wanted to be kicked out on my own that badly, I'd have kept my dad's neck unsnapped."  

"Mercury," Emerald hissed; Mercury clenched his jaw, knowing of Emerald's slight fear of angry authority figures but having no such fear himself.  

"I'm speaking from a survivalist point of view," he continued, crossing his arms.  "And safety is in numbers, at least until we reach Mistral."  He paused, weighing over his words for a moment.  "And if it'll keep you off our backs, we'll even give you some information regarding Haven."

Emerald gave him a wide-eyed look while the others looked confused.  Qrow's eyes narrowed.

"What ABOUT Haven?" he demanded.  

Mercury shook his head.  "I want your word first," he said, standing.  "We go with you to Haven, and you don't rat us out to anyone.  You don't try to make us do anything we don't want to."  He paused.  "...and while we're at it, you make sure we have some Lien to get restarted on life.  It's a fair trade considering the dirt I have on that place."

Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose, heaving a weary sigh.  "Fine," he groused.  "Fine.  We'll get to the details later."  He turned to Tyrian.  "...Some parts of Mistral aren't exactly Faunus-friendly."

"And I don't care," Tyrian replied.  "I'm not worried about it."  He smirked at Ren, Nora, and Ruby.  "Not like they saw I was a Faunus to begin with, anyway."  He held up the cooked pheasant.  "Eat up, then.  Best be getting to those mountains before sundown."  He sat back next to Jaune with a few pieces, curling his tail around the younger's waist.  

Ruby was the first to move for the food, silently starting the chain for everyone else.  They would need their strength for the day ahead and no one was too proud to eat what had been freely offered.

* * *

 

They all headed out at the same time toward the village Jaune scoped out, albeit in apparent group formations.  Qrow led the way with Ruby, Ren, and Nora while Tyrian walked alongside Emerald and Mercury with Jaune taking up the back as extra security.  The walk didn't take long until they reached the decrepit wall that far bordered the village, and began walking around to look for a way inside.

Nora found a crumbling section of wall and kicked a larger path through, heading in and looking around before pausing.  "....oh...." she said weakly, turning to Ren.  Ren stepped through and honed in on the village symbol - a lotus.  He looked physically ill, enough so that Nora had to brace him up.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, hurrying over to see if he was okay.  Ren shook his head, rubbing his eyes.  "Ren..."

"It's nothing," he said shortly.  He straightened up, ignoring the look Jaune was giving him.  "Let's just get through here."  He made a brisk pace over the broken stone street, his eyes straight ahead.  Nora bit her lip, her eyes watery as she hurried after him and Ruby opened her mouth to say something when Jaune put a firm hand on her shoulder.  She looked at him helplessly and he only shook his head, the silent request for her to let it go for now being understood.

Emerald rubbed her arms, looking around at the village and seeing evidence of brutality and conflagration that put an end to this place.  She was personally no expert on aural remnants but she could almost FEEL the terror this village went through, and even the fall of Beacon seemed tame compared to this.  She kept close to Mercury, trying to keep a level head to avoid psyching herself out.  Mercury was less affected, but even so he was curious as to why Ren was so bothered by it.

His eyes caught the grip panel of one of Ren's pistols, seeing an identical emblem as the ones on the torn flags around the village.

Ah.  That explained a lot.

The village was unnaturally quiet in a way it SHOULDN'T be, destroyed abandonment be damned.  It made for an extremely uncomfortable trek through toward the direction of the mountains, but it was BECAUSE of that quietness that Mercury noticed that there was a set of footsteps that had ceased.  He paused and turned to see Jaune had stopped and was looking at another section of the village, his eyes narrowed and tail unfurled and curved upwards. 

"...what gives?" he asked, getting the attention of the others.  The look on Jaune's face had everyone else going for their weapons and being on high alert, especially Ren who was reaching out his senses to get a feel of the energy nearby.

And that was when he heard it; the sound that had haunted his dreams for years, the sound of something big, unnatural, and nightmarish stepping in the sound of claws and hooves clopping on the ground, drawing slowly, almost lazily, toward them.  The sound made his knees go weak and all those memories come rushing back in a terrible moment of weakness.

"...Ren..." came Nora's whimpering voice next to him, sounding just like the tiny girl he rescued long ago.  He looked up, his bangs quivering from his body shaking but through them, he could see IT.

That disgusting monstrosity that had taken his childhood away from him, stepping around the corner and spotting them, like it had been following them for the hunt.  The horse half snorted softly, smoke sifting from its skeletal nostrils as the OTHER half lifted its body upward, making a labored raspy sound that was almost EXCITED.

Mercury took a large step back, eyes widening when he saw it.  "What the actual hell IS that?" he demanded, seeing Emerald cower back behind a tree.  Qrow pushed Ruby behind him protectively as Tyrian actually took a step toward it, his eyes glimmering with delight.

"I can't believe it...!" he breathed, clasping his hands together.  "...Nuckelavee...!"

"The hell are you talkin' about?" Qrow growled, keeping his eyes pinned to the Grimm. 

Tyrian's tail was swishing excitedly.  "Nuckelavee," he answered.  "One of the Grimm Magnificum!  Oh, how fortunate we are to see one!"

"You're crazy," Qrow muttered, his hand clenching around the hilt of his sword as he surveyed the Grimm before him.  Judging from its sheer size and scarring, this Grimm had to be at LEAST several hundred years old.  The humanoid-looking half was impaled with several weapons that had never been bothered to be removed.  The jerky way it moved indicated intense pain that was probably unyielding and eternal, which only made for a more dangerous fight.

Jaune stepped up to Ren, his eyes pinned to the Grimm.  "...Ren," he said softly, "is THIS the Grimm that did all this?"  Ren said nothing, only nodding as his terror began to melt into decade-old raw anger as his hands tightened around his pistols.  Ren stood up, his glare going sharp with anger, something that did not go unnoticed by Jaune OR the Nuckelavee.  "...Ren-"

Ren disregarded him, rushing toward the Grimm with the single-minded resolution to KILL.  Nora cried after him, forming out her hammer and raced on with Ruby and Qrow quickly following suit.

Jaune grabbed his sword, sheath and all, and reformed the sheath into a sharp double-sided twohandler before running after.  Tyrian watched him go, perching himself up on a fallen hunk of rubble to witness the attack, looking as though he was watching a widely-anticipated movie.

Mercury remained behind with Emerald, watching as the group's first attack was quickly overpowered by the surprisingly strong and flexible arms of the top creature and were flung back into the village square.  The Grimm slowly stepped forward, the horse half snorting softly as it eyed them over, and the other half slumped over the weight of its own body, creaking up only to scream at them.

Emerald covered her ears, tucking her head to her knees at the sound that threatened her own psyche again.  Mercury rubbed his ears, looking over at Tyrian who was unaffected, looking as though it was music rather than a shriek of the damned.  He watched the group attack again, the Grimm retaliating quickly despite the slow movements of before, and only getting more accurate with time.

Mercury's eyes narrowed; he had seen somewhat intelligent Grimm before, but none that had actually adapted THIS quickly to something or someone fighting it.  The longer the group fought, the better defense and retaliation the Grimm displayed. 

"Amazing, isn't it?" 

He turned to look at Tyrian, who was gleaming at the Nuckelavee.  "A Grimm Magnificum, indeed...see how it LEARNS, how it FIGHTS....it's BEAUTIFUL."

Mercury grimaced.  "I wouldn't call it that," he muttered.  "And aren't you gonna help or something?"

Tyrian's smile went playful.  "Aren't YOU?" he retorted.  Mercury scowled, watching the Grimm grab Ruby and toss her to the ground and smack Ren away from him. 

"Hell no.  And anyway, what about your..."  SO many words ranging from 'boyfriend' to 'lovepuppet' ran through his mind but he didn't want to use any of them.  "...Jaune fighting it?"

Tyrian purred, his tail swaying behind him.  "He most certainly is," he said, his golden eyes glimmering.  "I wonder how he'll do it."

Pause.  "...do what?"

A wider, more excited grin that spoke volumes for what he didn't verbalize.

 

* * *

 

Ren wasn't going to last like this.

Everyone could see it, but Jaune could FEEL it.  Rage and despair and pain was rolling off of the boy in thick waves and it was making his attacks sloppy with the Nuckelavee focusing more and more on him. 

What was worse, Ren was becoming predictable.  Straight-forward attacks, only to be thwarted by the Grimm's quicker, more precise counters.  Ren was taking more hits than he was landing, and it was only infuriating the boy more and more.

_He wasn't going to last like this._

Nora could see it as well as Jaune could, and all of her efforts were going to keeping Ren from getting hit more than he should have been by now.  She couldn't even try to talk some sense into him, being too busy trying to counterattack.  If it wasn't for Qrow keeping the horse too busy to move around too much, they would have been much worse off.

But she wanted Ren to STOP.  She NEEDED him to calm down, just for a minute, and communicate up a plan-

The Nuckelavee throwing Ruby aside and picking up a huge rock on its arm's recoil caught her out of the worries in the back of her mind and right to the forefront when the Grimm hurled the rock right at Ren, who was diving forward for another blow, both going too fast for Ren to evade.  Nora went on autopilot, dropping her hammer and racing forward to shoulder Ren out of the way-

 

Ren went skidding on the ground, stunned for the moment and looking up to see Nora slumped against a broken building, motionless among pieces of shattered rock.  His rage ignited to hellish levels, screaming in anger as he rushed the Grimm again, his vision red and ears pounding with blood.

"REN!" Jaune shouted, dodging one of the Nuckelavee's hands and running toward his teammate.  "REN, STOP, PLEASE!"  He slashed his sword, managing to cut a few inches off of the Grimm's finger as it swiped him again, clearing his path to his friend.  "REN!"

The cut finger didn't faze the Grimm as much as one would have liked, as it began snapping its arm back, gripping Jaune by the ankle and snatching Ren by his arm.  Ren shot blindly at the Grimm, but it slammed him against the ground, once to disarm and again to stun before holding him aloft in front of it.  Ren snarled, thrashing in its hold, and then began screaming when it began crushing his arm in its hand.

Jaune pushed himself up on hearing the scream, seeing Ren being held up by a broken arm, the Grimm's other hand grabbing Ren's other arm and holding it tightly, and began pulling.  Ren screamed again, feeling his breaking arms being pulled from their sockets.

Jaune's vision went black.

Ruby dropped her reload cartridge hearing Ren scream, racing forward with intent on using nothing but her swings to get Ren safe, but she was yanked back by Qrow when a black and white blur raced by her.  She looked up, seeing Jaune take a running leap into the Grimm's back, jerking its head back hard by the carapace horns. 

The Nuckelavee screeched, letting go of Ren and reaching back to grab at Jaune, who slapped the hands away from him with his tail before using the stinger to stab at the Grimm repeatedly.  The horse half reared and stomped on the ground, whinnying and screeching in pain as it tried to throw Jaune off.  Jaune held on with one hand, grabbing an arrow from the Grimm's back and used it to stab where his tail wasn't stinging, Grimm smoke steaming thickly from wounds that grew bigger and began chipping away at the tangible form.

Mercury could only stare, watching Jaune cling to the Grimm to stab and sting it to death, the screaming and rattled breath of the humanoid half growing weak and labored.  The Grimm began to slump on the horse half, the arms slumping to its side as the head began to dissolve.  The horse half stumbled, dropping to one knee joint as it wailed loudly in pain.

Jaune stabbed hard again, the carapace skull breaking in his hands as the top half began to dissolve completely.  The horse half stumbled again, all four legs giving out completely as it continued to thrash around in its death throes.  Jaune slipped off of the horse, his tail curled up offensively and his eyes blazing red as he walked over to his abandoned sword and picked it up, reforming the twohandler again and taking off the horse's head in one swing.

There was dead silence as the Grimm dissolved in a thick cloud of smoke, and everyone conscious stared in terrified awe of the one who did it. 

"...holy shit," was all Mercury could say as Tyrian hopped up from his spot and hurried over to Jaune scooping up the boy without a fear in the world and twirled him around. 

"What a beautiful display!" he crowed, beaming brightly.  "You did so wonderfully, my beautiful golden godling!"  He sat on the ground, holding Jaune tightly with his tail curled around the boy, chirping on praises and sweetness as Ruby ran to assess Ren and Nora's conditions. 

Nora was unconscious with a broken aura, but she was alive and breathing.  Ren was lying back on the ground, his teeth clenched tightly and tears running down his face in pain from his broken and dislocated arms.  Qrow kept Nora's head still while making sure there was no apparent internal damage, shooting the scorpion pair a dark look.

It was an unnatural sight, seeing the psychotic Faunus actually cuddling an actual lusus nocturae like a dear pet rather than the monster he was.  But that wasn't the unsettling part.  The worst of it was seeing Jaune literally become Grimmlike in that fight with blazing red eyes and a Deathstalker's tail stabbing and killing like it was BORN to.  It was seeing Jaune's FACE, seeing an actual expression one could never find on an actual Grimm actually being displayed.  It was raw, primal, and deadly.

It was something he wanted to get as far away from as possible.

Ruby sat beside Ren, unable to do anything about his arms, but WAS able to talk to him and keep him as calm as she could.  "...Nora will be alright," she said, her voice trembling but hopeful.  "That thing is gone now, Ren...Jaune....he......"  She broke off, having seen the same thing her uncle had, but speaking A truth, if not the FULL truth.  "...Jaune took care of it.  He saved you."

Ren clenched his eyes shut, sniffling again in an attempt to stop the tears.  He KNEW that Grimm was gone now.  He KNEW....but there was still a rawness in his soul that was still there, refusing to go away.  And he was too tired to figure out what it was or why it was still there.  He forced himself to relax as best he could, taking deep breaths to attempt a ghost of his Semblance to calm himself.  "...okay..." he said.  Ruby gave him a brave smile, then looked up when she heard someone approach.

Jaune stood above them, his posture looking dead on his feet and a faint glimmer of red still in his iris.  Ruby trembled at the sight and Ren tensed up again, watching unblinkingly as Jaune knelt down beside Ren, reaching out and putting his hand on Ren's chest.

Ruby saw Qrow turn to them and begin stalking over with his hand on his sword, and she threw out her hands to gesture for him to stop, seeing a dark-tinted white aura sift from Jaune's hand into Ren's body.  Ren felt the stream flows of his own aura in a resurgence, the streams flaring specifically to his arms as he felt his joints fit in and his bones mend.  It was something he had experienced before, but nothing on this level.  His aura was returning, and accelerating his healing in a way that was reeling to experience. 

His eyes trailed to Jaune's face, seeing for the first time in a long time pure concern and love for his friends, like the past few nightmarish days had been just that-a nightmare. 

For the first time in a long time, Ren felt safe again.

Qrow was too focused on Jaune to notice Tyrian next to him right away, until the Faunus began speaking.  "He really is spectacular, isn't he?"  Tyrian paid no heed to Qrow's jump and defensive raise of the sword, his own hands tucked behind his back and expression proud at the younger scorpion in front of him.  "Aura enough to withstand Grimm Ichor...a Semblance that can amplify the potential of others..."  His smile widened, eyes gleaming.  "...and in the same hand, he can give life, and crush it completely." 

His eyes slid over to Qrow's, pinning crimson against gold.  "He is neither man, or monster," he said, his expression, for one split second, going absolutely terrifying and cold.  "You would do well to remember that, little bird."

The at-ease humor returned, and he went back to smiling at his younger lover and Qrow looked at everyone else, from Emerald and Mercury easing from behind the tree to Nora in recovery position to Ruby and Jaune, whose tinted white aura on Ren's body turned pink as the boy's own aura began functioning again.  He rubbed his throbbing temples, needing a nap, an actual meal, and a large stiff drink.

"Hey!" came Emerald's voice a moment later, everyone looking over as she pointed across the mountain.  "I see something coming!"  Everyone looked to where she was pointing and saw a couple of airships incoming, both bearing the symbol of Mistral.

Ruby's eyes watered at the sight of it, smiling down at Ren and Jaune.  "...we're going to make it, guys," she said, wiping her eyes as Ren sat up and Jaune pulled his hand back, everyone forgetting the past for one hopeful moment as they all thought the same thing.

They were finally going to make it to Mistral.


	9. Chapter 9

The airship ride to Mistral was contemplatively quiet, each for many different reasons.  They had been lucky that patrol scouts had seen the smoke of the Nuckelavee's passing, or it would have been at least another day or two's worth of a trip to make it across the mountains.  Ruby did most of the talking, saying that most of their group was hungry and weak from aura depletion or complete aura break, and that they were in fact headed to Mistral anyway.

The pilots were completely understanding and helpful, carefully loading Nora up to one of the airships and giving some first aid to Ruby and Qrow, who were injured from the fight and hadn't had the chance for Jaune to get to them.  Ren was healed for the most part, but still sore from his arms almost being ripped off, but he was still in better condition than the rest.

The proverbial room was read when it came to being loaded up on the airships, and Jaune took the second one with Tyrian, Emerald, and Mercury when Qrow gave them a look of lingering dislike and to Jaune, of distrust.

And so Jaune sat with Tyrian for the short journey to Mistral, looking out over the beautiful lands bathed in sunset but feeling none of the warmth. Tyrian didn't seem to care for the view, instead enjoying being next to Jaune as Emerald and Mercury sat away from them, looking like mental exhaustion had finally caught up to them.

As they began to descend on a landing pad, Tyrian reached over to a supply bin and brought out a thermal blanket, wrapping it around Jaune's shoulders. “I may not care for the thoughts of others,” he said, snaking his tail around his waist in perfect camouflage to his belt, “but I know that you would.” He kissed the top of Jaune's head, smiling. “And besides, it's not their honor to look at your beautiful tail anyway.”

Mercury rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to gag at the saccharine display, and then felt like banging his head on the side of the ship when he found himself thinking that it actually WAS a thoughtful gesture. The psycho actually had a genuine, normal conscience bone in his body.

Somehow, that made it even creepier.

The ships came to a complete stop and the patrol officers guided them off and directed them to the terminal to check in. Qrow took control of the talking then, making plans for a meeting and housing arrangements while the others sat back to wait.

Emerald snagged a hot steamed potato from a vendor at some point during the wait, nibbling at it and ignoring Mercury's glare at her not getting one from him too, as well as disregarding the disapproval from Ruby's group. “We already got a deal with the old man for some Lien, Emerald,” he muttered. “The first thing you do here is lift a potato. Typical.”

“Shut up, I'm starving,” Emerald hissed back, taking another large bite. Tyrian smiled at them in amusement.

“I'm certain the big kitty will make sure we're all taken care of,” he quipped. “Provided, of course, we remain undetected.” He turned to Jaune, eyeing over the boy's face and dark-rimmed eyes. “Though we could use a rest. All of us.” He curled his arm around Jaune's shoulders, pulling him close. “Are you alright, dearest?”

Jaune nodded silently, though he did in fact look like he was on the verge of nodding off at any point. “I'm fine,” he murmured. He went quiet as Qrow finished talking and walked back over to the two groups.

“We've got a house set aside for us,” he said. “It's a suite on the higher class, so it should be big enough for now.” He glanced at Jaune's group, his jaw twitching. “...for all of us.”

Ruby gave him a weak smile, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “Thank you, Uncle Qrow,” she said, standing up with the others following suit. She gave Jaune a worried look. “...is Jaune okay...?”

“He's fine, little flower,” Tyrian said, keeping Jaune up. “He needs rest for now. He hasn't slept for almost a week.”

“A WEEK?” Nora yelped. “How? WHY?”

Tyrian half-carried Jaune to the waiting cart lift to the higher-class suites, sitting him down. “Grimm aren't exactly known for sleeping,” he replied frankly. “But the human flesh is weak and it's catching up to him.” He pet Jaune's hair, feeling the boy begin to doze off. “Exerting himself in Kuroyuri might have been what did it.”

Ren wrung his hands tightly in his lap, a flicker of guilt in his eyes as he looked at how worse off Jaune looked compared to when he saw Jaune reappear back in Salem's castle. It was a stark difference, and not a comforting one.

Everyone remained silent the rest of the way to the suite, following Qrow to a large and very nice house and getting the key from the valet. The inside was spacious and airy with a large kitchen and three sets of rooms. The bathroom had a separate tub and shower and its own laundry facilities.

Tyrian disregarded the niceness of the house entirely, carrying Jaune to one of the rooms and settling him to bed, quietly taking off the boy's armor and outer clothing to set aside for later.  That left everyone else to divvy up the rooms for their own.  

Qrow and Ruby got one room and Ren and Nora snagged the other, leaving Emerald and Mercury to choose between rooming with three sets of undesirables, or taking the couch for themselves.  As much as the couch looked tempting, both didn't feel safe sleeping anywhere with a large window anywhere.

Biting the bullet, Tyrian and Jaune it was.

They were grateful that there was nothing disturbing going on in the room; Tyrian had pushed the bed aside and piled the pillows and blankets on the floor to bury them in, and both looked dead asleep.  That left Emerald and Mercury to their own beds, and Mercury took the one minus the bedding, preferring little covering as it was, and neither realized just how exhausted they were until they were dead asleep.

 

* * *

 

No one was really talkative late the next morning.  

It was closer to afternoon, and it was only smelling coffee and food being cooked did everyone stumble out of their rooms, hungry and rubbing their still-tired eyes.  They became slightly more awake upon seeing a scorpion Faunus multitasking in the kitchen wearing an apron and humming out a song.  Tyrian noticed the group coming in, beaming.  "Good morning!" he chirped, turning over some fried meat.  "Coffee is already made, so help yourselves!"

Only Emerald and Mercury looked on the whole not surprised, but Mercury could really go the rest of his life without seeing domestic Tyrian wearing an apron.  He hoped that by the time the coffee kicked in, the apron will be off.  He made the first move to the coffee carafe, pouring himself out a cup while Emerald went straight for the food.  Ruby held back with the others, wringing her capetail in her hands.  

"....where's Jaune?" she asked quietly.  Tyrian smiled, piling up more food onto a platter.  

"He's training out on the veranda," he replied.  "Now eat up.  You can't go meet with the kitty on an empty stomach!"

Mercury snorted into his coffee at the 'kitty' comment as Qrow took a look around at all the food.  "...where did you GET all of this?" he demanded.

"I went to the morning market," the Faunus replied, taking the apron off.  "You get the best deals first thing in the morning."

"Uh huh.  And how did you PAY for it?" Qrow countered.  

Tyrian rolled his eyes.  "They DO have a barter system here, you know," he retorted.  "I just took everything from the minibar out and traded for food in the lower district.  Better quality and quantity, in my opinion."

Qrow's eye twitched as he looked over at the now-emptied minibar, having noticed it once had fine crystal glassware.  "Great," he muttered, sitting down hard on a chair.  

"You needed to kick that filthy habit anyway," Tyrian said.  "Drink coffee, grumpy bird, you need it."

"Kiss my ass."

"You'll have to wait in line."

"Aaaaaaaaaand my appetite is gone," Mercury said, putting down the piece of bread he was going to be eating, grimacing. 

Ruby figured that NOT eating wasn't going to help anything, and began tentatively helping herself to some food.  "There's some vegetarian options here, Ren," she said quietly, hoping to help bring up some spirits with the group, be damned the discomfort of everyone being under the same roof.  Ren sighed and nodded, getting a plate of his own while Nora loaded up on fried meat and bread.  Emerald was already seated at the table with her own food, intent on minding her own business.

Qrow was the only one who didn't move to get food, going hungry out of spite and only looking up when Jaune came in from the veranda.  The younger scorpion was carrying his sheathed sword and was sans his armor, hair damp with sweat.  He looked visibly hungry as he came into the house, honing right in on the plated food.  Tyrian beamed at him as he began tidying up, leaving him to eat.

Ruby gave him a glance from the corner of her eye, feeling at least a little relieved that Jaune was still doing his training, even considering how sad it was the first time she saw it.  He didn't seem to be in any bad spirits, however, something she was thankful for. 

"So," Qrow's voice finally cut in, breaking the silent tension in the room, "you kids said you had something to tell me about Lionheart?"

Mercury put his coffee cup down, nodding.  "Yep," he said, sitting back.  "For starters, ponder me this, pops....how is it do you think we were able to get into the Vital Festival tournament on Haven's records?  You think a Huntsman Academy transcript would be that easy to falsify?"  Next to him, Jaune's cheeks turned pink; he made a note to ask later.  "I hope your acting is up to par when you go see him, because he's been working with Salem."

Ruby choked on a strawberry while everyone else stared at him, save for Jaune, who looked as though he had already been informed.  Qrow sat up straight, his eyes going almost deadly sharp.  " _What_." 

Even Mercury felt a stab of intimidation, his hands clenching around his coffee cup.  "You can't look me in the eye and tell me that guy's not a damn coward," he said.  "I met the guy only once and he looked ready to piss himself talking to Cinder."  He lifted his cup to take a sip of coffee.  "So I guess when Salem began prodding at the Academy headmasters for an info siphon, he was the easiest to crack."  He averted his eyes from Qrow, who looked ready to draw blood from something at how angry he was. 

Qrow shot a look at Jaune, who was relatively unsurprised.  "And you knew about this?" he demanded.

"Uncle Qrow, please," Ruby cut in, standing up to play peacekeeper if need be, but was blocked so by Tyrian, who sat next to Jaune and curled an arm around him.

"I told him many things, little bird," he said, his smile widening.  "A many good quid-pro-quo ran between us for those glorious three days.  But really, when would bringing up the old kitty being a traitor have been a good time?"  His smile remained in place, but his eyes went cold.  "No use in taking your anger toward a trusted comrade out on someone with circumstantial knowledge."  His demeanor went bright again.  "And isn't this a good thing to know?  You can plan for the worst and have things fall in your favor.  Silver linings all around." 

Qrow seethed for a good long moment before closing his eyes and letting out a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping.  It really wouldn't do any good to lose his temper, especially in front of Ruby and the other kids.  And as much as he LOATHED to admit, Tyrian had a point.  It was better to live with the knowledge of betrayal than to be stung by it in person.

"Fine," he finally ground out.  "He already knows we're here, so there's no point in doing recon work around him.  If that means having to bullshit my way around him to see what's going on, then I will."  He stood up, turning to Ruby, Ren, and Nora.  "I didn't specify how many of us there were, so seeing you wouldn't surprise him.  But..."

"Ren can provide emotion suppression," Nora spoke up, looking slightly shaken regardless.  "As long as we keep our own conversations to a minimum, it should help."  Ren nodded, looking bothered by the new revelation but eager to help.  "So, the only questions are, when are we going, and who is going?"

There was somewhat awkward silence as everyone looked among themselves. 

"He already knows who Mercury and I are," Emerald piped up.  "We can hang back here for now."  She looked down at herself.  "...and I need to go to the market for new clothes anyway.  I feel gross."

"You LOOK gross," Mercury put in, only being half an asshole while still remaining serious.  Emerald shot him a look before going back to her food.

"I'm sure the kitty has seen me in passing," Tyrian said.  "I wouldn't risk tagging along and ruining your little covert operation."

"How kind of you," Qrow muttered, rolling his eyes, turning to Jaune.  "And you?"

Jaune lowered his eyes to his hands.  "I'm not feeling up to it," he said honestly.  "And if he manages to notice my tail, he'll KNOW something is up."

Qrow nodded.  "Good call," he said, finally swallowing his pride to get a cup of coffee, if only to stop the migraine pounding at his temples.  "I'll make a call and we can freshen up.  You kids start fighting over who gets the bathroom and get it over with."  He took his coffee cup to the next room to make that call and Nora hopped up, grabbing Ruby's hand.

"We can double-up," she said.  "We'll try to save you some shampoo, Ren."

Ren's cheeks tinged pink.  "I don't use a lot of shampoo, Nora, and I'm not even sure we HAVE any yet."

"Just use lemon juice, lotus, that's what I did."  Tyrian said, reaching back and undoing his braid.  His hair gleamed softly in the light.  "It's a moisturizer you need.  Your hair is so coarse, you should really braid it back when you're out and about to keep it from getting damaged - Jaune, dear, go get me a comb -"

"You're not touching my hair you weirdo!" Ren yelped, jumping up and following Ruby and Nora.  "Nora, Ruby, I won't look, I promise-!"  The bathroom door closed behind them, leaving the rest the group sitting in the living room.

"....I'm NOT sharing a bathroom time slot with anyone," Mercury said, crossing his arms.  "I need the space."

"You NEED a waterproof finish for your legs," Emerald retorted.  "You're less than useless in a downpour."  She finished her food, sitting back.  "I can shower after I get new clothes."

"Do you need Lien?"  Tyrian reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a few Lien cards.  Mercury stared.

"I thought you bartered for the food," he said.  Tyrian grinned, tossing a few cards onto the table in front of Emerald.

"I did," he said.  "But I sold that silver flask in Qrow's bag for actual Lien."  He shook his head.  "Little bird REALLY needs to kick that habit."

Emerald scooped up the Lien and counted it out as Mercury grimaced; an alcoholic without a flask was an unpleasant person, and he did not want to be around Qrow when he realized his flask had been sold.  He DID feel somewhat safer with the alcohol out of the house, though.

Jaune silently began gathering the dirty dishes in the quiet moments, washing them and putting them to dry as Qrow came back from his call and the rest of JNPR came out of their bedrooms after the showers.

"He can meet up with us in an hour," Qrow said.  "If you guys are ready to go, we can leave now."

Ruby nodded, clipping her weapon to her back holster.  "We're ready," she said, turning to Jaune in the kitchen.  "...are you gonna be alright, Jaune?"

Jaune's shoulders were slumped as he finished up the last of the dishes.  "...I'll be fine," he said, turning around.  "Be safe, okay?"  Ruby, Ren, and Nora nodded, and Qrow turned to the other two teenagers.

"If you happen to return here, don't bring the Mistral police with you," he said.  "And I'm not bailing you out either, so keep it low or keep it clean, got it?"

Mercury rolled his eyes.  "YES, pops," he muttered, while Emerald kept the Lien out of Qrow's sight and nodded.  Qrow gave them a distrustful look and Tyrian a very disliking one before turning to the younger group.

"Alright then, let's get going."  Qrow led the way out of the house, leaving the secondary group alone.

"I'm going shopping," Emerald said, hopping up.  Tyrian stood too, walking over with a slip of paper.

"One moment, gem," he said, handing it to her.  "This stall wasn't open when I left this morning.  If you could pick this up for me, it would be GREATLY appreciated."  He gave her a pat on the head and turned to finish tidying up as Emerald shook off a shudder and headed out of the house with Mercury close behind, the boy intending on getting a layout of the area to see if there was anything of interest to amuse himself with.

Tyrian put the dish towels in the washing hamper, then curled his arms around Jaune's middle from behind, resting his chin on Jaune's shoulder.  "Alone at last," he purred, smiling softly.  He remained still with Jaune for a good long moment, enjoying just being near him.  "I do hope you're not taking their words to heart," he said after awhile.  "All simple creatures are afraid of what they don't understand, especially the ones with delusions of what SHOULD be good and evil, right and wrong."  He kissed Jaune's head, smiling.  "You're doing well, my beautiful golden boy."

He felt Jaune's body relax in his hold, smiling when he felt that his words gave Jaune comfort.  He kissed Jaune's cheek, taking hold of the boy's hand and leading him off to the bathroom to draw a hot bath.  Jaune sat by quietly, undressing himself and putting his clothes aside for washing later as he watched Tyrian add some flower extract to the water, the scent of jasmine and lotus filling the room before the Faunus began undressing himself.

It was days ago that Jaune found that in stark contrast to his own flawless skin, Tyrian's body was covered in scars, ranging from brutal cuts on his chest to burns on his back and slices over his arms and legs under the bandages and pants.  Every single one of them was done in an act of violence, Jaune had learned; not just from what Tyrian told him, but the scars left the same aural residue on the human body as it did to destroyed towns.  While Tyrian's emotions betrayed nothing toward them, the scars in aura told a completely different story.

But it wasn't Jaune's story to tell.  Only to appreciate and silently acknowledge. 

Jaune stepped into the tub, sighing when the hot water immediately began loosening his tight muscles and even making his tail feel more relaxed.  He felt Tyrian slide in behind him and pull his back to the older scorpion's chest, his hair being petted lightly before the Faunus began scrubbing him clean of sweat and dirt.

Gods, when was the last time he felt clean, he thought to himself.  It seemed like forever and a half ago that he'd been able to bathe properly back in Salem's castle, and even farther back that he was able to bathe ALONE.  It wasn't like Tyrian made it uncomfortable or difficult, though.  When Tyrian had attentions on him, it was FOR him, not for Tyrian, something Jaune could feel grateful for.

In no time at all, Jaune was clean, his hair washed, and his tail glistening with the flower extract Tyrian had glossed it with, and it was only then that Tyrian began cleaning himself off; taking special consideration for, Jaune noticed, his hair. 

Like Tyrian's face it, was basically the only part of him that was left unmarred.  Like it was one of the only beautiful things about himself Tyrian could preserve, and took great care to make sure it was nice.  And it WAS indeed nice.  Jaune's hands hand been in Tyrian's hair before, and he found it to be strong yet silky, always brushed out at night before remade in the braid or ponytail. 

And come to think of it, Jaune noticed that Tyrian went to great lengths to take care of any part of himself that didn't have scars, like a later-in-life revelation that anything left unmarred of himself had to have precautions to remain unmarred.  Blades on his vambraces to keep his hands protected; his tail always wrapped around his waist when not used in combat; his hair always out of the way and maintained with care.  Even his face was protected as best it could be, using his arms to block most blows to it.  That was where, Jaune had realized, most of the arm scars came from.

The pair were soon cleaned and shining, and Tyrian emptied the tub and grabbed a few towels for them, drying Jaune off before wringing his hair out and drying himself, taking them both back to the room after putting their clothes in the wash.  Jaune laid back on the soft bedsheets on the floor, sighing in comfort as Tyrian sat close by and began combing some moisturizer oil through his damp hair.

"...Tyrian?" he found himself asking, seeing the Faunus's eyes flick to him through the mirror. 

"Yes, my dearest?" Tyrian purred, smiling.  Jaune weighed his words for a moment before sighing.

"...my team...is very important to me," he said finally, averting his eyes and instead looking out the window at the afternoon light shining gold through some clouds.  "...they're scared of me, though.  And they have every right to be."  He hugged a pillow to himself, biting his lip.  "...I'm just asking...for you to not exacerbate that fear."

Tyrian's smile slowly dropped, putting the comb down on the table and turning to Jaune, his golden eyes unblinking and fully focused and serious.  "Is that what you want?" he asked quietly.  Jaune nodded.  Tyrian's tail swayed slowly behind him almost thoughtfully.  "It will not change much of anything," he finally continued.  "As I've said...lesser creatures will fear what they don't understand, regardless of how it is or what it does.  You have proven to them that you still hold them in close regard, and yet they still fear you."

Jaune closed his eyes, letting out a shaky sigh.  "...I know."

"So it does not matter what I say to them, or don't say to them.  They will regard you as they CHOOSE to regard you."  He picked his comb back up to finish out his hair.  "If they choose not to see you as the beautiful golden godling you are, full of so much power and passion, yet kind and compassionate, then they are simple fools who do not deserve you."  He put the comb down, walking over to Jaune and kneeling on the floor in front of him, his eyes soft and reverent.  "I have seen everything you are, and what you are capable of, and yet I do not fear you, my dear, I CHERISH you." 

He picked up one of Jaune's hands, kissing it softly before setting it down again.  "Get some rest, beloved," he said, tucking Jaune into the blanket pile and settling against the wall next to him, picking up a book to amuse himself with as Jaune settled down for more sleep that was desperately needed.

* * *

 

Everyone seemed to come back around the same time later with Emerald carting several bags from a clothing stall, Mercury with a bag from a parts store in the upper district for his leg maintenance, and Ruby, Ren, and Nora back from Haven sans Qrow, looking emotionally wrecked. 

Tyrian was making tea in the kitchen to go along with the leftover bread he bought earlier, beaming when they all came in.  "How did it go?" he chirped.  Ruby flopped back in her chair, rubbing her face.

"Awful," she said mournfully.  "Mercury was right, and we didn't want to believe it but we could just TELL he was lying to our faces!"  She stared up at the ceiling.  "It was so bad, Uncle Qrow needed to go to the bar before he completely lost his cool.  It's bad when even I can condone him running off to get drunk!" 

Nora nodded.  "It WAS pretty bad," she concurred.  "But we let Qrow do all the talking and we were out of there in no time.  But it's going to be hard staying here, wondering just what the plan is that he's keeping, you know?"  She glanced at Mercury, who shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he replied.  "I didn't get that much into the planning.  I was just there for decoration, to be honest." 

Everyone looked at Tyrian.

"Nor I," he said, pouring out the tea.  "My job was finding the Spring Maiden, and then it was hunting down the little flower."  He smiled almost fondly.  "The rest is a brief but wonderful history."  He handed a cup and saucer to Ruby, who hesitated before taking it, too tired to resist any form of genuine gesture by this point.

"Where's Jaune?" she asked, sipping the tea, pausing and looking into it.  "...and what's in this tea?"  Everyone tensed at the question before she sipped again, taking a longer slurp despite the hotness of the drink.

"It's strawberry mint," Tyrian said.  "Good for stress."  He poured out the rest of the tea before turning to Emerald.  "Well?"

Emerald rolled her eyes, handing over a bag.  "They had it," she said.  "And it cost more Lien than I thought it would, so I had to lift the shoes I wanted."

"Fair enough," Tyrian said, shrugging as he took a section out to look over it, the cloth red but a slightly lighter shade than Ruby's cape.  "It's perfect, thank you."  He took the bag and headed back to the bedroom.

Nora looked around at everyone.  "...it's not just me, right?" she asked.  "He's way creepier when he's being nice."

Mercury nodded with a shudder.  "After everything I've had to deal with him," he replied, "I have to agree.  It's not....it's..."  He wracked his brain for an adjective.  "...yeah, it's creepy."

"You think he's happier because of the sex?" Emerald bluntly asked, making Ruby spit out her tea.

"Well MY appetite's gone for the rest of the week, thanks bitch," Mercury grumbled, wiping a few flicks of the spewed tea off of his pant leg, pausing when he saw Jaune standing just outside the living area, arms crossed and looking almost offended they were talking about him without him present.  Emerald had the decency to blush, at least, as Jaune made his way to the kitchen to grab an apple and walk back, pausing by the couch.

"I think it's more of the conversation and being treated like a person instead of a freak, if you ask me," was his answer to her inquiry, taking a deliberate bite out of the apple, keeping stern eye contact as he chewed and swallowed.  "As most do, anyway."  He turned to walk back to the bedroom but paused when there was a knock at the door. 

Everyone looked among themselves, not knowing what to do.  No one was expecting anything, and Qrow had one of the two keys to the house (unless he managed to lose it).  It was Jaune who took initiative and walked over to the door, his tail half-uncurling to be hidden behind the door as he opened it slowly. 

Out of everything he had been expecting, a small younger teenager with wide hazel eyes was not one of them.  He glanced back at everyone else to see if they had run into the kid while they were out and about, but everyone looked as confused as he felt.  "...can I help you?" he asked. 

The boy wrung his hands, looking nervous.  "Yeah," he said, not making eye contact, "is there a...Ruby Rose here?"

Nora stood up and half-shielded Ruby, her eyes narrowing.  "WHY," she demanded.  Jaune saw the boy shift back slightly in intimidation, opening his mouth to say something when Qrow came stumbling into view laughing.

"I FOUND HIM!" he shouted to no one in particular, laughing as he stumbled to a couch and flopped down on it.  "I found him...!"  Ruby blinked and sighed, her shoulders slumping with relief and exasperation. 

"...Qrow, did you get drunk THAT quickly?" she asked, frowning at her uncle's careless hand-wave.

"Maaaaaaaaybe," Qrow drew out, still grinning.  She sighed again and geared herself up for a chastising when she heard a soft _'whoa'_ from the boy.  She turned and saw him walking in, staring at her closely.

"....you...have silver eyes..." he murmured, looking intrigued and awed. 

Ruby blinked, getting a strange case of deja vu.  "...who...are you?" she asked, hearing Qrow laughing in his drunken stupor again. 

The boy lowered his eyes as though he realized he had been staring.  "...well..." he said, putting his hands behind his back shyly, "...my name is Oscar Pine..."  He trailed off, wincing slightly when Qrow muttered _'wait for it...'_.  "...but...you may know me as..."  He mentally geared himself.  "...Professor Ozpin?"

The room went silent, everyone gaping at the boy as Qrow laughed and sat up.  "I DID IT!" he crowed before falling onto the floor.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild Oscar has appeared!


	10. Chapter 10

It was a bit of a mess getting everyone under the same banner, especially when the one who had more answers than everyone else was still partially passed-out on the floor and the panic-in-question was standing awkwardly by the door not knowing what in the world to do.  Ruby recovered first and pulled Qrow back onto the couch while Mercury let out a heavy, sightly-over-dramatic sigh and went into the kitchen to make a hangover coffee mixer, pretty sure he was the only one who would even think of it.

Qrow regained his senses, sitting back and holding his head while mumbling _'I found him, I did it'_ under his breath while Ruby kept him upright.  Mercury came back with the coffee and forced it into Qrow's hand.  "I'm not dealing with a hungover asshole," he said, making sure Qrow understood him, then turned to the kid who had introduced himself as Ozpin. 

There couldn't be another person who was the complete opposite of the former Beacon headmaster's demeanor.  The boy looked one decent fright away from passing out, and Mercury was very tempted to do just that.  But if this WAS a reincarnation mess, then he couldn't risk any harm to his own self.

Apparently Qrow could sober up as quickly as he could get drunk, and was halfway through the hangover coffee when he could focus.  He looked over at the boy -Oscar- and nodded to an empty chair.  "You wanna sit down, kid?" he asked, though it was more of an offering before the poor kid's legs gave out from under him.  Oscar nodded and walked to the chair, sitting down and wringing his hands tightly in his lap.  Qrow looked around at the others.  "Guys, don't hover, this is crazy enough as it is."

The group looked mildly embarrassed and sat themselves down, though they still looked Oscar over with interest.  Oscar stared back (mostly at Ruby, half of them noticed), and averted his eyes.  "Sorry, it's just...I've never really MET Hunters and Huntresses before," he excused. 

Ruby smiled, shrugging.  "Well, we've never met a person with two souls before, so...first times all around."

They smiled at one another for a few seconds more before Qrow cleared his throat.  "As nice as this is," he said, going serious, "we need to have a talk."  He nodded to Oscar.  "Mind showing us your little parlor trick, kid?"

Oscar sighed, looking equal parts exasperated and thankful for the distraction.  "...just so you know," he said, "I'll still be here."  He closed his eyes and the rest of the room felt a very tangible shift in aura and a flash of visible green aura around Oscar before he opened his eyes, the bright hazel gone and instead replaced with a glimmer of gold and a total shift in posture, expression and, when he spoke, voice.

"It's good to see you all again," he said, a secondary voice almost overlaying the familiar tone as his eyes roamed the room, pausing at Jaune, Emerald, and Mercury.  "...although, I have a feeling mine and Oscar's tale has competition with what's happened with you all."

Mercury and Emerald looked ready to bolt at any moment, fight-or-flight ready to kick in when Ozpin raised his hand.  "Please," he said genially, his expression softening, "it's not my place to judge circumstances before I hear of them."  He looked among them again.  "...if you have allied yourself with Qrow, even temporarily, then it's something I can respect and accept.  However..."  He looked at Jaune, whose tail was still half-uncurled from the disturbance earlier.  "...I'm admittedly...EXTREMELY curious as to your situation."

Jaune's hands flexed at his sides, his tail curling around his hips almost ashamedly as he looked away from the intensive inquiry of Ozpin's eyes.  Everyone else in the room went quiet, Ren looking mildly ill as though remembering something especially horrendous and Ruby staring at her hands in a brief state of triggered flashback.  Ozpin read the room, clearing his throat apologetically. 

"...I see.  Another time, then," he said, sitting back.  "I apologize for bringing it up." 

Jaune gave a curt nod, taking a breath and forcing his shoulders to relax.  "Thank you," he said.  "But-"

"Do we have another visitor?" Tyrian's voice drifted through as he walked in, honing in on Oscar's small frame immediately.  "Oh, how sweet, did the little bird bring in a young stray from the cold?"  He clasped his hands like someone looking at an adorable pet.  "Have you offered the poor little thing something to eat or drink?"

Mercury actually snorted at the looks on Oscar and Qrow's faces, wishing he had a scroll to take pictures.  Jaune rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking mostly exasperated but with a small hint of amusement.

"....Tyrian, this is Ozpin, reincarnated," he said, giving the Faunus a subtle sharp look with an unspoken demand being shared.  Tyrian's eyes widened for a brief moment before he turned back to Ozpin, his smile broadening.

"Ohhh, I see," he said, giving Ozpin a low bow of his head.  "A pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance, Ozpin.  I've been told SO much about you."  He sized Ozpin up in Oscar's body.  "Though I admit to have been expecting someone...older."

Ozpin's eyes narrowed slightly.  "So you know of me," he said shortly.  "Might I ask how?" 

Tyrian's smile only grew wider, his eyes glimmering as his tail unwound from his waist.  "I think we _both_ know how, little Ozzie," he purred before his demeanor went bright again.  "Now, about that drink that the grumpy bird was too busy to neglect giving you!"  He walked to the kitchen, humming loudly enough for everyone else to hear in the living room, leaving Jaune on standby to rub his temple almost tiredly. 

Ozpin blinked slowly, agreeing wholeheartedly with Oscar's mental exclamations of 'seriously what the hell', then turned to Jaune again.  "...does he have anything to do with...?"  He glanced at Jaune's tail.  Jaune crossed his arms, nodding shortly.  "...and...he is with you all...why?"

"The hell if we even know!" Qrow said, throwing his hands up.  "He just situated himself right in right after taking Jaune and-"

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby snapped, giving him a glare of silence to spare Jaune some dignity.  She sighed and glanced at Ozpin.  "It isn't our place to ask.  But...so far...Tyrian's been...helpful."  She looked at Emerald and Mercury.  "They all have.  And what's important is when it comes to where we stand with Salem, we're more or less on the same page."  She wrung her hands tightly.  "...at least, that's all that matters to me."

Ozpin nodded, his expression thoughtful for a moment.  "I see."  He turned to Jaune again.  "And what say you, Mister Arc?"

Jaune's hands tightened around his arms slightly.  "I say I know enough that I have every right under the sun and moon to leave and let the chips fall where they will," he replied, a glimmer of red appearing in his iris as he glanced at Ozpin.  "But I'm not abandoning my team."  He gestured lightly to the room, including Emerald and Mercury.  "Any of them.  But I have the luxury of knowing more about what YOU are trying to get everyone involved in.  Of having more information to make my CHOICE."  His tail twitched at his side. 

"He is right you know," Tyrian piped up, coming back in with some coffee and biscuits.  "Everyone deserves the choice, do they not?  Best be sure someone's informed before making it."  He smiled, handing out a coffee cup to Ozpin, who took it, albeit hesitantly, his hazel-gold eyes narrowing slightly at Tyrian.

"And what have YOU chosen, then?" he asked, paying little mind to the confused looks from the majority others in the room. 

Tyrian's tail swayed slightly, his eyes glimmering.  "Isn't it obvious?" he said, his voice almost ominous in a way that made Qrow tense up and inch for his sword before Tyrian stood up straight and walked over to Jaune, curling an arm around the younger's shoulders.  "I've chosen my beautiful golden godling."  He smiled, kissing Jaune's cheek.

He looked almost delighted when Ozpin's coffee cup shattered in his hand.

The room was silent with everyone holding their breath before Ozpin gave a slow blink and took the kerchief from Oscar's pocket and tidied up.  "Pardon me," he said, dabbing the coffee from his pants.  "That was uncalled for."

"Speak for yourself," Qrow muttered, pointedly looking away from the scorpion pair.  Ozpin sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment to compose himself.

"Right," he said, mostly to himself.  "Another conversation for a later date."  He turned to Emerald and Mercury.  "...and you are aware of what they speak of?"  Emerald glanced at Mercury, who shared her slight confusion.  "That answers that."

"You might as well tell them," Jaune said, turning to the lanai door.  "I need some fresh air."  He quickly walked out, the others seeing him run his hands through his hair before he vanished around the corner. 

Tyrian shook his head with a soft 'tsk-tsk'.  "Really now, you shouldn't be upsetting him," he said, his hands on his hips.  "I'm not part Grimm and even I can feel the negativity.  Not a good atmosphere for choice-making, no no."  He turned on heel and walked back to the bedrooms, a door shutting moments later. 

Everyone sat in silence for a good long moment before Ozpin leaned forward, his fingertips pressed together.  "...then I suppose it's time for a talk."

* * *

 

 

It was late that night that Ozpin finally had the chance to speak with Qrow alone.

He had told them everything he had intended on telling them, from the tale of the brother-gods to his reincarnation history, down to the importance of the Relics. Most importantly, he told them of the choice, that it wasn't just a Relic, but an actual path one took in life, and what either side could come out to in life.

And when all was said and done, he left them to think on the matter. He let Oscar take the front to also absorb the information, knowing that all of them needed it.

Finally, after everyone had gone to sleep, Ozpin sat out on the lanai, looking up at the broken moon as Qrow stepped out to join him, handing him a cup of coffee that was greatly appreciated. The two of the sat in silence for a good long moment.

“...this is an unsatisfactory situation,” Ozpin finally said.

Qrow snorted, sipping from his own spiked cup. “That's putting it lightly,” he muttered, looking haunted. “After what those kids have seen...it's bad, Oz. Very bad.”

Ozpin nodded quietly. “I hate to call any of it a silver lining, the circumstances considering,” he said, “but especially for Emerald and Mercury to see what the path of darkness yields...”

A scoff from Qrow. “Those two...” he said darkly, taking a long sip from his drink. “...they're killers and thieves. Especially the boy.”

“Be that as it may,” Ozpin said quietly, “they still ran when they had the chance.” He looked out over the mountains. “Those two were born into unfortunate circumstances and merely adapted to what had been given them. But still, they CHOSE to leave.” He glanced at Qrow. “As you did, once.”

Qrow sighed, closing his eyes tiredly. “...it hardly matters who chose what,” he said hauntedly. “Anyone without a heart would have run after seeing what they did.” He passed a hand over his mouth, looking mildly ill. “I couldn't stop them from witnessing it...from it happening...” He swallowed, letting out a shaky breath.

Ozpin took a slow sip from his drink. “...the details of this situation are...disturbing, to say the least,” he remarked.

Qrow let out a dark, humorous laugh. “'To say the least'...” he muttered. “'Disturbing' doesn't even cover all of it, least of all Jaune.” He downed the rest of his drink. “He's what bothers me the most. Ruby won't admit it, but...since he was taken in, something fundamental has changed about him.” He stared at his empty coffee cup. “When that maniac took Jaune away, the kid could barely walk or TALK...and in three days enough had changed for Tyrian to abandon his 'goddess' and follow Jaune to the ends of the earth.” He gave Ozpin a helpless look. “Things like that just don't _happen_ , Oz. Something isn't adding up when it comes to those two.”

Ozpin nodded quietly, looking off contemplatively. “I know,” he says. “As...distasteful the situation is...I will not turn down the knowledge and skill Tyrian can bring by following Jaune...or Emerald and Mercury.” He finished off his coffee. “We will keep an eye on them for now. But we will also regard them as allies.”

* * *

 

Emerald laid awake on her bed, unable to sleep after everything that had happened that evening. She turned in bed a few times before glancing over at Mercury's back in the next bed. “....you awake, Mercury?” she said softly to avoid waking Jaune and Tyrian. She heard a soft sigh.

“Yeah,” he answered. “What do you want?”

Emerald bit her lip, staring at the ceiling. “I don't know what to think of all this anymore,” she admitted. “...first Cinder tells us about the truth of the world...and then Ozpin comes back and proves her both right and wrong...” She rubbed her arms. “I don't know what to think or believe anymore.”

“That's a good thing,” came Jaune's voice from the corner, making them both jump with a start. They looked over and saw Jaune sitting up and looking at them with Tyrian curled up next to him.

Mercury sat up, frowning. “What do you mean?” he demanded. Emerald sat up too, hugging her knees.

“I mean, taking one person's word for something when it comes to information of this enormity,” Jaune answered, his tail curled around his lap. “Hearing both sides of a story before making a decision. A choice.”

Emerald wrung her hands in one of her ponytails nervously. “I don't know WHAT to choose,” she said honestly. I...Cinder was...I owed her everything, but she held everything from me...from US....” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “What do I do now?”

“We were pawns, Emerald,” Mercury cut in bitterly. “It should be obvious by now.”

“Indeed you were, quicksilver,” Tyrian spoke up, lying on his side with his head propped up on his hand. “It's a common method, recruiting the lowest of lowlifes, right when the wounds are still raw to bring over to her side.” He smiled at Emerald and Mercury. “A starving abandoned orphan...a hateful boy fresh from killing his father....and both with extraordinary Semblances or talents? What better recruits than you two?”

Mercury shifted closer to the wall, flexing his hands anxiously. “What do YOU know?” he shot back. “You're saying you're so special you were picked out all on your own?”

Tyrian's eyes narrowed fractionally, his look going almost distant. “Of course not,” he replied, gesturing flippantly with his free hand. “When a higher power calls for you, only fools turn it down completely.” He turned over onto his stomach, folding his arms under his chin, his tail swaying behind him.

“Not many know this, but even the Faunus have discrimination among themselves,” he said, looking at a spot on the wall. “Specifically the insectoid Faunus. Even back in the old home in Vacuo, we were not welcome. We're unique in the way that our aspects are more functional than most. Spiders who can create webs, scorpions like myself who can actually poison...” He gave a humorless smile. “Suffice to say, we were outcasts among who should have been our own kind.”

His expression went dark. “Insects were created to be crushed underfoot. The Arachnid clans were no different. And one day just like that-” he snapped his fingers, “-my clan was gone. Hacked to little pieces and their tails or mandibles or carapaces taken as trophies while the other Faunus did nothing to help.

“The only respite for insectoids was the White Fang, who recruited almost exclusively the outcast Faunus in Vacuo, where their hold is the weakest. Alas, even they only saw us as tools and did nothing to bail us out when we were left behind.” He gave a small smirk, his eyes glowing softly in the dark. “So when a human bandit tribe of Mistral came for them during a raid, I did nothing but watch as they were slaughtered before making my own escape. Poetic justice, I believe.”

He sighed almost happily. “And among the carnage when I was close to bleeding to death, a higher power found me and offered me freedom and the truth. And so I took it. I never regretted it, not once.” He smiled at Emerald and Mercury. “It's good to get out and see what other options there are before settling. Even if it...leaves a scar.”

Mercury's hands clenched into his pant legs while Emerald's hand reached over her shoulder to touch at a burn mark through her vest.

“This is stupid,” Mercury muttered, leaning his head against the wall. “Sitting up having a bonding moment. Ridiculous.”

“What's so ridiculous about it?” Jaune asked, his expression and tone earnest. “I spend more time with you guys than I do my own team these days...and I've made it clear that if you want to stay, you can. Not even Qrow can change that. He's not the boss of any of us.”

“Seriously,” Mercury groaned, rolling his eyes. “WHY do you CARE? Like if we SOMEHOW manage to stop the fuckup at Haven, whatever it is, that we'll skip off into the sunset best friends ready for a new day? It's stupid.” He slumped against the wall, crossing his arms tightly over his chest. “...it's stupid.”

Jaune was quiet for a moment. “...because if you were the lone wolf you think you were, you wouldn't have taken Cinder up on her offer,” he finally said. “You wouldn't have stuck by Emerald. You wouldn't still be HERE, sharing a house with everyone and a room with us. And I can't say I mind.” He rested his arms on his knee. “...I miss having a team. No amount of Grimm in my body will change that. But they don't feel the same way, I can tell. At least you aren't afraid to talk to me.”

Emerald glanced over at him. “So what, are you saying you want US to be on your team?” she asked. “Weird you'd want a bunch of murderers alongside you.”

Jaune was silent for a moment before he lifted his head, his blue eyes carrying a soft red glow in them. “...don't forget,” he said, his golden stinger glinting in the moonlight through the window, “that I've killed too.” His expression went dark, the glow becoming more apparent. “...and I know that before this is all done, I'm going to kill again, because what else CAN you do against someone who has nothing left to lose?”

Mercury felt a shudder run up his spine, knowing all too well THAT struggle himself. “...right,” he muttered. “Go Team MRDR.”

“Right name, wrong acronym,” Tyrian piped up, his tail flicking playfully as he thought for a moment. “Oooh, what about Team JTEM? It seems appropriate, yes?”

Mercury frowned, adding up the possible acronyms before coming across _je t'aime_ in his head and scowling. “Ugh, you perverted freak,” he groaned.

“Spare us the constant reminder, seriously,” Emerald put in, pulling a face and then pausing when she heard Jaune muffle laughter into his fist, his smile barely visible but definitely there.

And it had occurred to her that it was the first she had seen him smile this entire time.

 


	11. Chapter 11

It was after much thought and deliberation that Ruby, Ren, and Nora agreed that being on Ozpin's side was the best choice they had.  Emerald and Mercury abstained from answering, preferring to be neutral for the time being 'for more answers'.  To what, they wouldn't say.

And Jaune and Tyrian simply remained silent, both already chosen for themselves with no need to involve anyone else.

After the fact, Ozpin said that he would need to bring everyone up to fighting shape.

So it was early the next morning after decision-making that even Oscar became involved with physical training, being paired off with Ruby as she was the other one unused to physical combat.  Qrow, Ren, and Nora stood by one one side of the lanai while the other group took to the other side, all of them watching for awhile until Qrow finally lost patience and walked over to see what was what.

"What is it exactly you're even doing over here?" he asked, trying to keep the hostility out of his voice and failing somewhat. 

Jaune rolled his eyes, looking tired at this old song-and-dance.  "We're watching and on standby in case anyone wants to ask any of us to help or join in or share expertise," he replied.  Qrow's eyes narrowed, but he was spared replying when Oscar walked up, the posture and expression indicating that Ozpin had taken over.

"It's not a bad idea, Qrow," he replied.  "In any case, eight fighters with varying arts is much more efficient than eight fighters all the same."  He looked over at everyone.  "Anything you would like to bring to the table?"

"Actually," Tyrian said, stepping forward in several long strides, "I do."  He ignored the look Qrow gave him as he walked up to Ruby, smiling in a way that surely meant to be friendly but came off as completely alarming to the much smaller girl.  He walked in a wide circle around her in the sparring ring, gesturing lightly to show that he was unarmed, save for his tail.

"This is a good lesson, especially for budding young fighters such as the little flower and the sapling," he said, keeping his strides long and smooth, his eyes never leaving Ruby.  "When in physical combat, it is wise, and in many cases necessary, to make use of every inch of your body."  He grinned, his tail unsnaking from around his waist.  "Every inch of you should be considered a weapon.  Any free, functioning part of you could be used to your advantage." 

He paused, then turned from Ruby over to Ren.  "Lotus, would you care to demonstrate with me?" he said, holding out his hand invitingly.  Ren scowled, looking like he would literally do anything BUT that, but had to admit that when it came to hand-to-hand combat, he was by far the more superior of the group.  He let out a suffered sigh and stood up, walking over to the sparring ring and stancing himself for combat. 

Tyrian smiled, his tail swaying beside him as he began to circle the ring like a predator.  "I'll keep the poison to myself, lotus," he promised.  "But that doesn't mean you won't feel my stinger should it prick you."  He paused and glanced over to Emerald, who had snorted.  "Mind out of the gutter, gem, this is a sparring match not-"  He tipped his head to the side to avoid a blow from Ren, grabbing the boy's arm and flipping him to the ground.  "-a cabaret show."

Ren flipped himself back up, making quick strikes at Tyrian, keeping his movements fast but coordinated, trying to find a way to shift Tyrian off-balance.  Tyrian dodged and deflected with ease, his unnatural flexibility coming as a boon to him until he swung his leg out and kicked Ren across the ring.  He walked up, hands on his hips.  "You're fast and skilled," he said, "but you're terribly predictable and you don't take risks to make a hit.  You need more flexibility."  He jerked to the side when Ren launched up at him, then swung himself around, his braid snapping out like a whip and sending Ren crashing back to the ground.

Ren hissed, touching his face where the braid had struck him and wondering why his aura hadn't blocked it.  Tyrian smiled, circling the ring again.  "Again, why you should braid your hair for combat," he said, tossing his braid over his shoulder.  "Best case, it's used as an additional weapon.  Worst, you only have a small area to cut in case it's caught by the enemy."  He stretched, smiling.  "And in a physical fight, hit first, hit hard, hit for the face."

"Speaking from experience, eh?" Qrow snarked, smirking.  Tyrian grinned back. 

"Of course," he said.  "I was caught in your Semblance and was unfortunate enough to be distracted.  And one good hit to the face can cause enough distraction to get the job done."  He gave Qrow a disappointed look.  "Unfortunately, the little bird likes to play too much.  Naughty."

Qrow huffed, scowling.  "It's called fighting honorably," he replied.  "Maybe you've heard of it."

"I have," Tyrian said, tossing his head with a sniff.  "But unlike YOU, I was fighting to kill."  He glanced at Ruby and Oscar, his golden eyes going cold.  "Conviction, little ones.  If you feel deep down in your soul that you wont' walk away from a fight alive if you don't fight back, you go for the throat and you don't let up until they stop twitching." 

"I don't APPRECIATE you telling these kids how to kill," Qrow growled, taking a side-step in Ruby and Oscar's direction as though to shield them. 

"Oh good," Tyrian said, hands on his hips.  "You're fine with teaching them how to die.  Wonderful."  He sighed, reaching down and plucking Ren up to set him on his feet.  "You and Ozzie both know well enough that when wolves come for children, they either die children, or they live as hunters."  He gave Oscar an odd look.  "It's the same with humans, or even Faunus.  Man...monster...what's even the difference when they come for your life?" 

He brushed his pants and tossed his braid over his shoulder again.  "Jaune, dearest, let's go," he said, stepping to one side of the ring.  "You need to keep up with your own training other than your swordsmanship."

Jaune sighed and nodded, reaching up and taking off his breastplate to set it down next to Crocea Mors and walked into the ring.  He kept his eyes on Tyrian, his fists raised and tail uncurled from his hips and poised above his head.  Tyrian did the same, his posture crouched low as he circled the ring, Jaune following suit. 

The two scorpions circled one another before Jaune shot forward, his tail snapping out to sting.  Tyrian knocked it away with his own, crouching down and sweeping Jaune's legs out from under him.  Jaune twisted his body to land on all fours, his tail snapping out again to block a kick and leapt up to hit at Tyrian's face. 

Tyrian spun out of the way and slammed his elbow into Jaune's face, sending him sprawling.  Jaune scrambled up, stepping back to reassess the situation and began circling again.

The rest of the group watched, most with held breaths as Jaune and Tyrian sparred, noticing that Tyrian pulled no punches whatsover and had no qualms about punching, kicking, kneeing, or elbowing in vital areas while Jaune was only able to get a few hits in.  He was in somewhat rough shape near the end when Tyrian finished the fight by hooking the crook of his foot around Jaune's neck and flipped them both to the ground and he was able to stand up right away while Jaune remained on the ground.

"Jaune?" Ruby called over.  "...are you alright?"  She let out a sigh of relief when Jaune raised a hand and made a 'so-so' gesture.  She felt some secondhand soreness from Jaune's condition, watching Tyrian grab Jaune's hand and help him up, the pair walking back over.  "...you don't look very alright."

"Yeah, hold on..." Tyrian said, cupping Jaune's face and turning it carefully before quickly making a hard adjustment to Jaune's slightly-crooked nose.  Jaune hissed and wiped some blood from his nose, sitting still as Tyrian made minor adjustments to his shoulders and neck.  "Alright," he said, patting Jaune's hair.  "You can use it now."

Ruby's question as to what 'it' was was answered when a tinted white shimmer ran over Jaune's body, his bruises and cuts vanishing right before her eyes.  "...wow..." she said, eyes wide.  "How did you do that?"

Tyrian laughed, sitting himself down next to Jaune.  "Honestly, little flower, you should recognize Semblance use when you see it.  You saw when he used it on lotus back in Kuroyuri."

"Semblance?" Nora piped up, heading over when she heard.  "When did you discover THAT, Jaune?" 

Jaune's cheeks tinted pink, rubbing his head.  "...back at the castle," he said, lowering his eyes.  "....it...kicked in for real when...you know..."  His tail twitched beside him.  "But I knew for SURE when I sped up my healing after my first training with Tyrian."

"It's aural amplification," Tyrian said, stretching out his arms and back.  "He can amplify his own aura, and the aura of others.  At the very basic use, he can amplify aura to heal himself, or someone else.  What ELSE his Semblance can do is a work in progress."  He smiled, his eyes soft as he looked at Jaune.  "A perfect antithesis to my own Semblance."

Oscar sat back, looking incredibly interested in all this talk of Semblances.  "What's yours?" he asked, noticing everyone else sans Jaune looking over attentively, guessing that they didn't know either. 

Tyrian beamed, his fingers fluttering almost playfully.  "I can drain the aura of anyone I make contact with," he said, giggling when most everyone took a step back.  "Don't worry, it's not a passive Semblance like the little bird's.  I can control it."  He finished stretching before perching himself crouched on a bench.  "I don't absorb it.  I only drain it....well, I DESTROY it, is more accurate.  I can extend it out to the bare minimum of my blades, but it's more effective bare-handed."

Qrow's hand unconsciously went to his right wrist, recalling when Tyrian's tail had wrapped around it, and all the times he had attacked at him with the tail instead of the blades.  Tyrian had been draining his aura little by little without him noticing until he had been thrown out of the house after Tyrian dragged him into it, again by the tail. 

Jaune sighed, glancing over at Ren before walking over and looking at the slight welt that was still present from being whipped by Tyrian's braid.  He reached out to touch it.  "Here, let me-"  He was cut off when Ren knocked his hand away and froze like he didn't even know he had consciously done so. 

"It's fine," Ren said, shifting back slightly, then immediately looked sorry at the crestfallen expression on Jaune's face.  "...Jaune, I'm sorry, I..."

Jaune turned and walked back to the other group, gathering up his armor and Crocea Mors before heading inside, not speaking a word.  Tyrian's demeanor went cold, standing up from the bench and gathering his blades while giving Ren a deep purple glare and heading inside after Jaune.  Emerald and Mercury shared a look with one another before heading inside too, leaving everyone else outside in uncomfortable silence.

Ren sat back on the ground, putting his face in his hands with a pained sigh.

Emerald took the lead to the bedroom, nibbling her lip as she peeked inside, seeing Jaune sitting on the nest pile with his arms around his legs.  Tyrian was seated behind him with both arms around Jaune's shoulders, murmuring comfortingly.  The Faunus glanced up when Emerald poked her head in, giving her a shake of the head.  Emerald nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

Tyrian petted Jaune's head, resting it against his shoulder quietly.  Jaune closed his eyes, grey-tinted tears beading at his eyes.  "...I'm tired of this..." he murmured, his voice wavering.  "I'm..."  He stared at his shaking hands.  "...I can't keep doing this...trying so hard...and only getting terror back in return..."  He pressed his hands to his face, letting out a shaky sigh. 

He let Tyrian hold him, waiting for his terror fueled high to die down into silence.  Tyrian hugged Jaune tighter, kissing the boy's head.  "...stop trying," he said, resting his chin on Jaune's shoulder.  "You shouldn't have to TRY to retain the favor of people who SHOULD know you." 

He turned Jaune around in his arms, reclining him back on pillows against the wall, smiling down at him.  "I will always be your ally," he said, his eyes glimmering reverently.  "I accept you, all of you, no matter what you are or what you may become."  He kissed Jaune's face, purring softly.  "If you become a saint who never kills again or a demon that slaughters thousands, it won't matter any.  I will be there, loving you with every wisp of my aura, my beautiful, perfect golden godling."  He tipped Jaune's face up, kissing him lightly, waiting until Jaune reciprocated before going any further.

Carefully as though handling glass, he took the remainder of Jaune's armor off, setting it aside and untying the red sash from Jaune's waist and putting it with the armor before shifting back and putting Jaune's legs in his lap and untying his boots.  Jaune let him, staying quiet as Tyrian finished undressing him and hovered over him to worship the view.  And Jaune let him, being used to this attention by now

 

_**As I deserve to be.** _

 

Jaune let out a soft shudder, biting his lip when Tyrian's hands stroked up his thighs.  That thick, overwhelming sound that vaguely resembled a voice echoed in his head, as it often did after being indulged in negative emotions from others.

 

**_I've had enough._ **

 

Tyrian growled, his tail twitching behind him excitedly as he parted Jaune's thighs, leaning down between them and licking over Jaune's cock lovingly, intent on not sparing a single inch from his attentions.  His tail curled in delight, hearing his beautiful golden boy's breath hitch above him, feeling a hand slide over his head and clench into his hair.  He deftly untied the end of his braid and let it come undone for Jaune's fingers before returning to the task at hand.

Jaune bit his lip hard, his hand gripping around Tyrian's silky untied hair as he felt the Faunus's mouth lavish over him, tongue doing most of the work with a skill that Jaune was admittedly enamored by.  That, paired with warm hands stroking and squeezing his thighs and a dexterous tail curling around his own, he could feel himself almost coming undone already.  

But Tyrian wasn't one to allow their trysts to end so quickly.

The Faunus sat up on his knees, making quick work of his own boots and clothing to toss them haphazardly into a pile next to the blanket nest and shifted up to straddle Jaune's hips, his tail curled up and resting over his shoulder.  He cupped Jaune's face, brushing tear-dampened cheeks with his thumbs before leaning down and kissing him again, purring softly.  Jaune kissed him back, feeling a shudder from neck to stinger when Tyrian pressed their hips together, making small, rough thrusts with his hips.

 

**_More._ **

 

Tyrian broke the kiss, nipping Jaune's lip lightly before sitting up and raising his hips slightly to position himself over Jaune's cock, licking his teeth with an excited purr before pressing down.  Jaune hissed, his nails digging into Tyrian's thighs as the Faunus sunk down on him completely in one movement, a soft shuddering groan echoing right down to Jaune.  Tyrian clenched his hands around Jaune's shoulders, his tail twitching wildly behind him as he adjusted himself and sighed, looming over Jaune with poisonous purple eyes.  "A perfect fit, my golden godling," he purred, licking his lips and nearly salivating, his voice wavering with excitement and barely-restrained ecstasy.  "Just as you are for me, and I for you."  He arched his back, rolling his hips slowly and keeping his eyes pinned to Jaune.

 

_**MORE.** _

 

Jaune's nails dug in deeper into Tyrian's thighs enough to draw blood, feeling a guttural growl rumbling in his chest, dropping his head back against the wall.  Tyrian took it as invitation, leaning down and leaving kisses along Jaune's neck, scraping his teeth and tongue over the muscles and pulse hungrily as he moved on Jaune almost tortuously slowly. 

"My beautiful boy..." Tyrian purred, taking a sharp nip at Jaune's ear as he kept his pace slow and controlled.  "...my perfect golden godling...you don't deserve those foul words from them...you're perfect, glorious in every way..."  He continued to worship Jaune's neck, leaving marks that would unfortunately be healed in moments but for the moment were beautiful to look at.  He slid a hand up into Jaune's hair, tugging lightly to elicit a hiss from the younger scorpion, feeling blood drip down his own thighs from Jaune's nails piercing his skin.

 

_**MORE.** _

 

Jaune felt a soft whine break his voice, his natural inclination to ignore that suffocating tone and bury it down waning the more he found himself agreeing with it.

 

_'I shouldn't want this.'_

 

_**I want MORE.  
** _

 

Tyrian latched his lips onto Jaune's neck, sucking on the throbbing pulse under his tongue, tugging on Jaune's hair harder.  Jaune hissed louder, his arms curling around Tyrian and his nails digging into the already-scarred skin.  Tyrian's tail thrashed behind him, groaning into Jaune's neck as he scraped his teeth over the sensitive patch of skin.

 

_**MORE** _

 

In one fast move, Tyrian found himself pinned back on the blanket nest with Jaune poised above him, eyes blazing red and tail curled up over his head.  His heart pounded in his chest, eyes glimmering as he held Jaune's face in his hands, searing the sight in his memory. 

"You're beautiful," he breathed, absolute worship in his voice as he pulled Jaune down for a searing kiss, arching his hips to both keep his tail from crushing and to allow his godling for better access to his body.  Jaune accepted the offering, his kiss all teeth and tongue as his hands found Tyrian's wrists and pinned them to the floor as he thrust hard into Tyrian, not caring if he was hurting the Faunus or not; had he been more lucid, he was sure Tyrian wasn't minding in the least.

And so he wasn't.  Tyrian was in complete ecstasy, his tail curling around Jaune's back to pull him closer, biting back just as hard as he egged Jaune on with purrs and hisses where teeth bit and nails cut.  "Come on, godling," he purred lowly into Jaune's ear, licking his lips, his own eyes venomously purple.  "Use me."

Jaune growled, biting Tyrian's shoulder hard enough to draw blood, feeling in some minuscule part of his mind that it was all he could do to keep from...

...from WHAT?

 

_'I can't take this anymore...!'_

 

**_Then don't._ **

**_Take._ **

**_Dominate._ **

**_DEVOUR._ **

 

Tyrian bit his lip when Jaune's teeth dug in deeper, dropping his head back as he orgasmed right then, his tail tightening around Jaune and dripping purple venom onto the blankets.  He let out a deep breathy gasp, licking his lips as he let Jaune ride out through his own, the younger scorpion shaking on top of him.  Slowly, he felt Jaune's grip on him loosen enough for Tyrian to slip his arms from the boy's hands, a deft look seeing that Jaune had left bruises.  He could only IMAGINE what his shoulder looked like, he thought with a thrill.

He curled his arms around Jaune, kissing over the boy's face lovingly as he murmured soft comforts.  Jaune pressed closer, holding himself to Tyrian like a lifeline as the adrenaline left his body, the tier of dominance he had felt leaving him feeling exposed on that pedestal.

"I...I can't..." he stammered, burying his face into Tyrian's chest, feeling terrified for some ungodly reason.  "...I can't..."

"Shhhh," Tyrian soothed, petting Jaune's head.  "Yes, you can.  You are a god among men, my beautiful golden boy...and even if the world itself is against you, I will be there, yours to do with as you please."  He shifted them both to their sides, giving their tails some much-needed stretch room.  "If small men cannot appreciate your greatness, they are not worth worrying over."  He kissed Jaune's head, tugging a sheet up to tuck them both in, settling down in comfort.

Jaune let out a shaky sigh, relaxing into the blanket nest with Tyrian without having to force himself to as he once had some time ago.  He felt strangely untouchable in his vulnerability here, safe and warm and

 

_'Loved.'_

 

He bit his lip hard, disbelieving the thought even came into his head.  No.  No, not that.

 

_'Don't delude yourself.'_

_'You care for him like he cares for you.'_

 

_**He's yours entirely.** _

 

 _  
_ The idea was...curious.  Enough so that Jaune couldn't help but allow himself to actually think about it with a modicum of acceptance. 

 

_'....mine.'_

 

* * *

 

Ren stayed up late in the living room, wanting some time to himself to meditate and think.  His zen, however, was constantly interrupted by the memory of Jaune's face when he had drawn away, those familiar blue eyes suddenly filled with an unfamiliar hurt and pain.  That HE had caused.

And every time he let his mind wander, that image always returned.

He sighed, standing to go get a cup of tea to help him sleep when he heard someone walk through the house and into the living room, looking up to see Tyrian making his way to the kitchen.  He stood still, his hands flexing at his sides as his eyes followed the Faunus's movements, seeing Tyrian gather some water and fruit onto a small tray, humming softly to himself. 

Ren tried as hard as he could but couldn't come up with a reason why Jaune would trust someone like Tyrian to join them all this time, or even why Tyrian would situate himself into the group.  And even harder was trying to accept the fact.  But every time he DID try, he would pick up on Jaune's new aura, feeling something WRONG...something unnatural that reminded him like a punch to the gut of the Nuckelavee Grimm.  And then every attempt fell apart.

He rubbed his face, sighing and waiting for Tyrian to finish up in the kitchen before realizing that it had become quiet.  He looked up and saw Tyrian standing in the living room with the tray, staring at him with an unreadable expression.  Ren swallowed, averting his eyes and turning to the kitchen.

"One moment, lotus."

He froze, seeing Tyrian put the tray down on the table from the corner of his eye.  Tyrian straightened up, rolling his shoulders back before turning to Ren.  His expression was unnaturally stoic and eyes like cold flicks of gold.  He kept an unwavering stare with Ren for an uncomfortably long time before speaking.

"I have tried very hard to get along with those my golden boy holds dear," he said, folding his hands behind his back.  "And it has not been easy, naturally, considering our opposing sides of circumstance.  But the fact remains that I try.  For HIM."  He rolled his shoulders again, a muscle in his jaw flexing. 

"He holds you and the others in the highest regard, which only makes it that much more painful when rejection is thrown his way.  Old Qrow is understandable, but you?"  He shook his head, tsk-ing softly.  "Not so much."  He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a short breath and letting it out.  "Now then."

Ren didn't even see Tyrian move before he was slammed against the wall by the throat, any sound of protest cut off by a venom-dripping stinger poised right as his eye.  Tyrian held him to the wall off the ground, his purple eyes looking almost on fire.  Tyrian leaned in close, his stare unblinking and terrifying.  "You listen to me, and you listen well Lie Ren," he said, his voice soft and calm but not at all betraying the threat behind it.  "If I ever see Jaune cry because of you again, I will rip your tongue from your throat and tear you to bloody pieces before gifting what remains to the lowest Grimm to feast on.  Do I make myself clear?"

He didn't give Ren time to react before dropping him, turning and picking up the tray while curling his tail back around his waist.  When he turned back to Ren, his smile was back in place, voice chipper once more.  "I'm glad we had this talk, little lotus," he said.  "The chamomile is in the cupboard.  You have sweet dreams."  With that, he headed back to his bedroom, vanishing into the dark hall.

It was almost a full minute later that Ren had to remind himself to breathe.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the little nicknames Tyrian gives to everyone.
> 
> Jaune: 'golden boy' or 'golden godling'  
> Ruby: 'little flower'  
> Nora: 'thunder'  
> Ren: 'lotus'  
> Qrow: 'old/little/grumpy bird'  
> Emerald: 'gem'  
> Mercury: 'quicksilver'  
> Oscar/Ozpin: 'sapling/Ozzie'  
> Lionheart: 'kitty'
> 
> More characters, more to come!


	12. Chapter 12

Qrow was up early getting coffee ready for the kids for when they woke up for training when Tyrian came into the living room fully dressed and looking ready to head out for the day.  The Faunus was adjusting the straps on an apparently new coat that aided in hiding his tail that had longer sleeves, apparently to hide his blades.  He set a package down on the coffee table and walked into the kitchen to grab some coffee for himself and Jaune, ignoring Qrow's annoyance at snagging what should have been for the kids.

The scent of coffee brought everyone else in, sleepy-eyed and totally not ready for more training.  Even Oscar looked like he'd rather do anything else but get his butt handed to him, but everyone had to do something other than sitting around waiting for whatever was going to happen.  Jaune came in last, sans his armor but his sword clipped to his belt with his tail wrapped around his hips, heading right to the fridge for something to eat.

"So where are you headed off to?" Qrow asked, giving Tyrian's outfit another look, seeing that it was plainly for wandering around Mistral unnoticed.  Tyrian smiled secretively, sipping his coffee.

"My golden boy and I are heading into the city," he said.  "It does no good to stay cooped up in this place, no matter how nice it is.  Which reminds me, dearest..."  He put his cup down and walked over to the package on the table, picking it up and holding it out.  "I made this for you."

Jaune looked up, glancing at the package curiously before walking over.  "What is it?" he asked.  Tyrian put it into his hands and pulled the string tying it together and stepped back, almost bouncing in place from excitement as Jaune unfolded the package to show a long beautiful cape.  "...oh..."

"I had gem go get the material," Tyrian said, taking the cape and sliding it around Jaune's shoulders, taking a pin clasp from his own pocket and latching the top closed.  The cape covered over Jaune's shoulders down to his knees, it being enough to completely hide the bulk of his tail.  The edges were outlined in gold, and the back of it had the Arc emblem sewn on in black.  He smoothed it out, smiling.  "Do you like it?"

Jaune ran his hand over the material, finding it thick and probably waterproof, good for any degree of weather on hunts or missions, but also for hiding his tail from prying eyes.  So yes...he had to say he DID like it.  He smiled at Tyrian, nodding.  "I do," he said, and to even his own surprise, took initiative to lean up and kiss Tyrian's cheek.

Mercury almost overflowed his coffee cup staring and barely caught himself in time to avoid a mess.  That was enough of a slap to the face to wake up to that he didn't even need the coffee anymore, but he figured scalding liquid would help drown it out.  He took a large swig, wincing as it went down and turned to avoid having to look at the disturbingly saccharine display.

He was not alone in his reaction, but neither scorpion could be assed to care as Jaune stepped back to adjust his cape and get a feel for it and Tyrian finished off his coffee.  "Anyway," the Faunus said, smiling at the rest of the group, looking genuinely (and sanely) happy, "what's on your schedules today?"

Oscar, having the least context of the disturbing relationship between the scorpions and the others, spoke up.  "Ruby, Ren, Nora, and I are going to keep training today," he said.  "Qrow has a list of Huntsmen in Mistral he's going to go out and search for to help us out."  He looked at Qrow as though to confirm, and Qrow nodded, putting his own coffee down.

"Yeah," he said, taking out his scroll to show.  "I've made a lot of contacts around here, and more than half of 'em owe me some favors-"  He was cut off when Tyrian deftly plucked the scroll from his hand and began tapping it.  "Hey, what the hell are you doing!?"

Tyrian's eyes quickly flashed over the scroll as he swiped off down the line several times and handed it back.  "I shortened the list," he said.  "No need looking for dead people."

Qrow frowned, looking down at the list that had been cut to less than half of what he originally had.  "What the hell do you MEAN, dead?" he demanded, his hand clenching around his scroll.  Tyrian's expression was unreadable, showing neither humor nor contempt.

"I mean, dead," he replied.  "I have no idea which ones Hazel got to, but those are the ones that I personally killed months ago."

The atmosphere in the house went cold, Qrow's eyes going sharp enough to cut diamonds and his hand looking ready to shatter the scroll in it.  "...you did WHAT," he bit out through clenched teeth.  Tyrian sighed, tossing his braid over his shoulder.

"Why are you even surprised?" he asked, shaking his head and turning to Jaune.  "Are you ready, dear?" 

Jaune nodded, avoiding eye contact with Qrow.  "Yeah," he said.  "Let's go."  The two left the house, leaving everyone else in very uncomfortable silence. 

Emerald had made a Semblance-cloaked retreat back to the bedroom to avoid Qrow's possible wrath while Mercury stood stock still where he was, his fight-or-flight on standby to kick in at any possible moment.  He didn't let the rigidness go in his back until Qrow grabbed his sword and headed out, and even then he still jumped when Ruby put a hand on his arm. 

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking genuinely worried.  Mercury wondered just how he looked with an angry drunk within hitting distance, and took his coffee cup in his hands for something to ground himself with.

"I'm fine," he said shortly, brushing past her and heading back to the bedroom with Emerald.  Ruby stared after him, still reeling at how terrified Mercury looked when Qrow got angry, which was, in retrospect admittedly scary, but she saw Mercury's face drain of color and eyes dart for the door like he was facing a Grimm unarmed.  It sort of made his comments about his deceased father make a little bit more sense.

She turned to share a helpless look with the rest of her team plus Oscar, and picked up her gun.  "Let's get going," she said, heading out the lanai. 

* * *

 

Tyrian led the way out of the uppercrust area of Mistral, taking a few back ways down to the lower district where Jaune could see was less business outdoors and more Faunus freely roaming about.  Tyrian seemed to know exactly where he was going, keeping eyes out for any Mistral police to avoid.  Jaune stuck close by, keeping as low a profile as he could as Tyrian made it to a run-down area with a large tavern and walked inside, keeping to the left wall before getting a seat.

Jaune sat down across from him, keeping his eyes to himself as Tyrian did the surveying.  His senses were on overload, both human and Grimm, and it was all he could do to focus on Tyrian alone.  Finally someone came to the table setting down a couple drinks but sticking by.

"Tyrian Callows," Jaune heard him say, looking up and seeing a man in barman garb smirking.  "Never thought I'd see you back here again."

"I never really planned to," Tyrian replied with a shrug, picking up his drink and sipping it.  "I see the usual fare hasn't improved any."

"Smartass."  The guy grabbed an empty stool and pulled it up, sitting himself down at the table.  Jaune glanced down and saw a long, hairless rat tail curled out from under the man's apron.  "So what brings you here..."  He glanced at Jaune, his russet eyes roaming over the younger male's hidden form.  "...with a...?"

"He's not human, if that's what you're implying" Tyrian said, smiling in amusement as he traced a fingertip over the rim of his glass.  "Dearest, give him a little peek."

Jaune rolled his eyes at Tyrian's obvious innuendo, uncurling his tail just enough to slide the golden stinger out from the hem of his cloak before withdrawing it again.  The other Faunus's eyes widened slightly.

"A scorpion, eh?" he said, obviously impressed.  "Boy, you sure lucked out, didn't you?"

Tyrian smiled, reaching across the table and taking Jaune's hand in his own.  "I do count myself lucky, yes," he said, giving Jaune's hand a squeeze before his expression went serious.  "But I didn't come here to show off my good fortune, Roscuro, I came here for information."

The other Faunus sat up, crossing his arms.  "I figured," he said, his tail slithering behind him.  "What is it, and what's it WORTH?"

Tyrian reached into his pocket and threw down a hefty amount of Lien, his eyes pinning Roscuro with intent to get whatever information he wanted for the price.  "What's the word on the White Fang in Mistral, and their direction toward Haven?"

Roscuro's eyes narrowed, his fingers twitching for the Lien but looking hesitant to take it.  "That's some solid information you're asking for," he said carefully.  "Very SENSITIVE information."

"I know," Tyrian said, keeping eye contact as he took another sip of his drink and he slipped his free hand into his pocket and took out another Lien card, adding it to the pile.  "It's IMPORTANT information, Roscuro.  And since I'm something of a persona non grata in the White Fang...you can understand why I came HERE instead." 

Roscuro's finger tapped on the table, looking thoughtful before answering.  "...most of what I know is that High Leader Khan has been...replaced," he said.  "By Adam Taurus."

Tyrian arched a brow.  "Really," he said.  "Interesting.  Anything else?"

"Only that Chio's been sending and receiving orders for more explosives than necessary," Roscuro replied.  "That's all."

Tyrian nodded to himself and finished his drink.  "My many thanks, old friend," he said, dropping a few Lien coins on to the table along with the cards.  "It's more than enough."  He turned to Jaune.  "Shall we go, dearest?"

Jaune nodded and stood up, then in an afterthought grabbed the untouched drink sat before him and knocked it back in one go, setting the glass down.  "Yeah," he said, giving Roscuro a short nod before following Tyrian out of the tavern.

Roscuro glanced at the empty glass, whistling softly to himself.  Anyone who could knock back a blend like that in one go without so much as a flinch was certainly tough enough to follow Tyrian in whatever it was he was aiming to do.

* * *

 

Tyrian was smiling at Jaune as they walked, something Jaune noticed.  "What?" he asked.  Tyrian snickered, curling an arm around Jaune's shoulders.

"I've never quite seen someone take to that horrible tavern brew quite like that," he said, his eyes glimmering with mirth.  "It usually takes a couple years marinating in some strong stuff to tolerate it."

Jaune rolled his eyes.  "THAT'S what you took from that errand?" he muttered.  "After Grimm ichor, I could swallow battery acid and it would be mild."  He sighed, looking on ahead.  "So, the White Fang is under new leadership.  You think Hazel knows?"

"Of course he does," Tyrian replied.  "He was assigned to meet with Sienna Khan...but I met Taurus before.  Disturbed little boy, he is."  He shook his head.  "The White Fang is about to get more violent and sloppy in their workings...which works out well enough in our favor."

"We don't exactly have a time frame to work around," Jaune said, frowning.  "Only that Adam took over, he's loading on explosives, and he's aiming for Haven with Lionheart's knowledge on the matter.  The real important question is WHEN?"

Tyrian sighed.  "Alas, it's a mystery for now," he said, tossing his braid over his shoulder.  "But we have enough information for today.  Come, let's go get some food.  If the grumpy bird does find one of his Huntsmen friends, they'll need something good to eat."

Jaune, nodded.  "....must you antagonize him though?" he asked.  "You couldn't think of any SOFTER way to break it to him?"

"Nope," Tyrian chirped, then paused to think.  "...I could have given him a condolences card."

"...yeah, forget it."

"A cake, maybe?  Or a nice coffee liqueur?"

"Tyrian..."

* * *

 

Ruby and Co were done with training by the time Jaune and Tyrian returned with several bags' worth of food in hand.  "Did you guys leave just to get food?" Nora asked, peeking in the bags curiously (and hungrily, if her stomach was any indication).

"Not exactly," Tyrian said, taking off his coat and hanging it up.  "But that is dinnertime talk.  Where is the grumpy bird?"

Ruby set her scythe down, nibbling her lip.  "I got a scroll message from him saying he's still out looking for Huntsmen," she said.  "But that was an hour ago."

"Oh, good."  Tyrian took off his vambraces and pulled on the kitchen apron.  "Wash up and help me cook then.  People are more inclined to accept an invitation to a fight on a full stomach."

Emerald and Mercury looked at each other, both thinking that they had come in at exactly the least opportune time and turned to go when Tyrian spotted them.  "You two help too," he stated.  "You can't stay cooped up in that room forever."

Mercury only knew arguing would get him into a conversation Tyrian would never shut up about and groaned, rolling up his sleeves and getting to cut up the meat.  "Emerald is just gonna eat it all," he groused, scowling when Emerald kicked one of his legs.  "Hey, I'm holding a knife, bitch, and I'm not afraid to use it."

"Ohh, big scary cyborg with his kitchen knife," Emerald shot back, elbowing back at her holstered scythe pistols.  "Got some penis envy, Merc?"  She picked up a strawberry and bit into it as she set to washing the vegetables.

Jaune sighed, shaking his head as he took off his cloak and carefully folded it.  "Just don't start a food war," he said.  "I am NOT cleaning it up."  He went in the back to put his cloak away, giving Ruby a nod en route.  Ruby heaved a sigh of her own. 

"Might as well help out," she said, finishing unpacking the food and setting it out, finding little else to do as Tyrian began multitasking like a pro.  It was interesting enough to sit back and watch, admittedly finding it fascinating that the same psycho who started all this was apparently a domestic genius. 

"Thunder, sort the noodles so they can boil," Tyrian delegated.  "Lotus, be a dear and start some tea.  We found a lovely blend downtown you can use.  Little flower, set the table, and make it look nice for our guests."

Mercury pushed the diced meat in Tyrian's direction to add to the soup.  "Aren't you gonna have your 'golden boy' do anything?" he groused, then yelped when Tyrian whacked him with the blunt of his aculeus. 

"He's agreed to do the dishes after, quicksilver," he said.  "Or do you want to swap with him?"  He smirked when Mercury turned his focus back to the cutting board. 

Ruby was helping Ren set out the tea when she heard the front door open.  "Hey, Ruby!" Qrow called out, sounding decidedly more chipper than he definitely was this morning.  

"Be right there!" she called over her shoulder, standing and brushing her skirt off before taking the tea tray and heading out.  "We didn't know how many you'd bring over, so Tyrian had us cook all of it-" she cut off with a gasp, her hands going limp when she saw her sister and Weiss standing by her uncle.  

The crash had the rest of the house going quiet with Ren hurriedly poking his head out, hands on his pistols in case of attack, but he too froze when he saw two more members of RWBY in the living room.  Ruby drew her hands to her chest, looking hopeful and scared and disbelieving all at once as she struggled for something to say.  "..Yang, I'm so sorry!" she cried, tearing up.  "I...I should've stayed, I should've talked to you more, I....I just....I wasn't sure if you wanted me around, and...!" 

She was spared more of her emotional babbling when her sister strode forward and hugged her tightly.  Ruby felt all the weight of the past couple of weeks finally settle in comfort with her big sister there, like everything was okay, finally.

And she finally allowed herself to cry.

Jaune peered out from the hallway, his jaw dropping when he saw both Weiss and Yang THERE, in Mistral, out of nowhere.  And as surprising and happy he was for Ruby at that moment, he knew a pair of problems in the kitchen that needed to be taken care of before trouble even happened.  He doubled back to grab his cloak and throw it on and then slipped through the living room and past Ren and Nora to Emerald and Mercury, pulling them further back into the dining room to talk in a hushed tone.

"It's Yang and Weiss," he said lowly, seeing Mercury have the same realization of there being trouble as Jaune had.  "They're going to be...a lot harder to convince, considering..."

"Why don't we just leave?" Emerald said, having a more apparent feel of remorse for their play in Beacon's fall.  Jaune sighed, running a hand through his head.

"Because the sooner we clear the air, the better," he replied.  "And while we're here, this is your home too."  He didn't fail to notice the genuine surprise on Mercury's face.  "I know it's gonna be unpleasant...but if you can promise me you'll at least apologize for what they had to go through, not even about what you did, then I'll make sure you'll both be okay."

Emerald looked compliant while Mercury visibly grimaced at the thought of apologizing, but both looked at one another and nodded in agreement.  Jaune nodded in return and stood up.  "Alright," he said, "I'll let you know."  He walked back out to the living room where everyone else was, noting that Tyrian was finishing up in the kitchen, never one to let food go to waste.  Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were calming down from their reunion while Ren and Nora stood by not quite knowing what to do about it.  He took a deep breath and let it out, stepping forward.  "...guys, we need to talk."

The three of RWBY separated and looked at Jaune in confusion, with Ruby quickly realizing what he was talking about and knew she'd have to back him up on this.  She wrung her hands, taking a step back from Weiss and Yang, nibbling her lip.

"...Ruby?" Yang queried, "what's wrong?" 

Jaune glanced back toward the dining room.  "...it's a LOT of ground to cover, and we'll get into that later," he said, "...but a couple of...old acquaintances joined us on the way here."  He flexed his hands, his expression serious as he looked between Weiss and Yang.  "And I'm only asking that you two keep an open mind and know that they weren't any better off than us when they joined up, okay?"

Weiss frowned, glancing around at everyone else, who looked incredibly uncomfortable.  "...alright..." she said slowly.  Yang arched a brow, crossing her arms and nodding.

Jaune sighed and turned to the dining room.  "...guys, come in," he called out.  There were two pairs of hesitant footsteps around the corner before Emerald and Mercury walked in, looking tense and ready to fight or run.  Whichever response kicked in first. 

Weiss gasped and took a step back while Yang's expression went white with fury, her eyes going red at the sight of primarily Mercury.  "YOU-!" she snarled, lurching forward only to be stopped by Ruby, who kept her sister held back. 

"Yang, no!" she cried, shifting up to break Yang's eye view of Mercury.  "Yang, listen to me, okay-LISTEN!"  She grabbed her sister's face, MAKING her look at her.  "Yang, Jaune is right.  Things....things happened..."  She swallowed hard, closing her eyes for a moment to compose herself.  "...things happened, and things are different.  You have to trust me on this, if nothing else."  She let go of Yang's face, stepping back.  "Please."

Yang's eyes went back to violet but the anger didn't leave her face.  It wasn't until she looked away from her sister and toward Emerald and Mercury did she see Jaune standing in front of them with a hand halfway to his sword, his expression almost defiant.  She looked around at everyone else, seeing Ren silently standing nearby with Nora, who looked like the last thing she wanted was a fight.  Emerald looked terrified while Mercury kept his eyes averted, his hands flexing in preparation to fight his way out.

"If any of you are going to be fighting," came a new voice from the kitchen, "then you had best take it out on the lanai!  I won't have mealtime ruined with bloodshed at the dinner table!"

The tension was eased somewhat to be replaced by confusion from Yang and Weiss's part as Tyrian came walking in, looking on with interest at the two newcomers.  "Only two, old bird?  And children?"  He shook his head with a tsk.  "I hope they're hungry.  We cooked all of it."

Jaune's shoulders dropped, sensing the change in tone and mentally thanked Tyrian for the shift as he let his hand drop away from his sword.  "They're Ruby's teammates. Yang, Ruby's older sister," he said, gesturing over.  "And Weiss Schnee."

Tyrian's eyes went wide as he looked at Weiss, putting a hand on his chest.  "A Schnee?  Under our humble roof?" he said, strolling forward and bowing lightly before holding out his hand.  "What an honor to meet your acquaintance, Miss Schnee, truly.  Tyrian Callows, at your service." 

Weiss's confusion over this newcomer paired with the sudden appearance of Emerald and Mercury stunned her just enough to take the offered hand on reflex.  The man gave her a charming, albeit odd, smile and kissed her hand, and at the same time she saw a scorpion tail unwind from around his waist and curl up.  She jerked back with a short scream and stumbled into Qrow, who just barely caught her.  Yang had her fists up with Ember Celica cocked and ready but also stopped short when she saw Tyrian's tail.

Tyrian burst into laughter, holding his middle as he nearly went to the floor in mirth.  "Oh, the look on your FACE!" he howled, actually tearing up from how hard he was laughing, his tail flicking behind him.  "A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to prank a Schnee and I GOT it!"

Jaune put a hand to his face, shaking his head.  "Tyrian, no," he said with a heavy sigh.  "Just...no."  He gave Tyrian a hard nudge.  "Knock it off, Tyrian, really.  Now's not the time."

The Faunus giggled wildly, standing up straight and curling his tail back around his waist.  "My apologies, snowflake," he said, still beaming at his joke's reaction.  "I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to pull that with a Schnee."  He beamed, rubbing his hands together.  "Now then, I'll go get the spare tea set-" he gingerly stepped over the broken set Ruby had dropped, "-and get something a bit more calming."  He turned to the kitchen.  "Quicksilver, gem, help me set the table, please."  He walked off, Emerald and Mercury this time more than happy to follow to escape the room.

Weiss still looked like she had barely escaped a heart attack, her hand on her chest and eyes still wide.  Qrow directed her to a chair and sat her down, glowering off at Tyrian's back.  "...yeah, a real piece of work, that one," he grumbled, then set to picking up the tea set as Yang and Ruby went to comfort their teammate. 

Yang looked in the direction of the kitchen, now, admittedly, more curious than angry at this point.  "...who WAS that?" she demanded.  Ren and Nora glanced at Jaune, who rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Someone who's having too good a day," he replied.  "His name is Tyrian," he replied.  "Scorpion Faunus."  He gave Weiss a reassuring look.  "He's got nothing against you, I promise.  He barely likes his own species as it is...he's just got a...."  He searched for an adjective.  "...strange sense of humor."

"He's a flipping weirdo," Nora provided, completely serious.  Jaune gave a conceding nod. 

"Yeah, yeah he is," he said.  "....you...guys alright?"

Weiss slumped back, sighing.  "I almost had a heart attack," she said.  "And Emerald and Mercury here too?  I don't even know what's going on."  She rubbed her face.  "...so...no...not exactly alright."  She sighed again, looking between everyone.  "...but I'm not NOT alright, either."  She managed a tiny smile, which everyone else returned.

Jaune looked relieved at her slight ease, standing upright.  "....we do have food ready," he said, turning to go to the dining room.  "We could...do with some catching up."

"Are THEY going to be there too?" Yang asked, her eyes narrowing.  Jaune paused, his hands flexing slightly.

"They made the meal," he replied.  "And they're part of the conversation too, Yang.  A pretty BIG part of it."

"I didn't exactly come here to reunite with them," Yang said darkly.  "Or with that creepy freak-"

"Watch it, Yang," Jaune snapped, his eyes narrowing as he pulled himself to his full height.  "You just watch it with that word, alright?"  He paused, turning from the group and covering his eyes with his hand as though pained.

Or hiding something.

"...Jaune..." Ruby said delicately.  "...are you alright?"  Jaune stood like that for a moment before nodding, lowering his hand. 

"I'm fine, Ruby," he said, his voice shaking slightly.  He swallowed hard then let out a sigh, turning back to Yang.  "...we'll talk after you...reunite.  Let me know how it goes." 

"Jaune...!"  Ruby watched helplessly as Jaune walked into the kitchen and spoke with hushed tones to the other three, all of them heading out to the lanai.  En route, Tyrian gave the group a long look, his unblinking gold eyes honing in on Yang for a brief moment before following.

Everyone else sat in silence in the living room in stunned silence.  Nora rubbed her arms, looking at Ren who was barely in control of his own emotions again and then at Ruby who looked like she wanted nothing more than for everyone to just sit and talk and clear the air.

Nobody really wanted to eat, but nobody really wanted to waste food either.


	13. Chapter 13

The meal was more solemn than any of them would have liked, but no one really wanted to break the ice with anything.  Not yet.

Weiss and Yang shared a few looks when the others weren't noticing, silently asking each other why Jaune would have chosen to leave with Emerald, Mercury, and that Tyrian guy rather than stay and just talk with them.  Ruby, Ren, and Nora looked put down, but like they had expected it, and it just raised more questions. 

Finally, Yang broke the silence, putting her chopsticks down and sitting back.  "Can we talk?" she said, looking over the other group.  "Please?  I didn't come all this way to just...NOT talk."

Ruby and her comrades shared a look and a momentary silent conversation before Ruby sighed.  "....it's...a very long story," she said, wringing her hands.  "...and not one we can...should, tell without Jaune and the others." 

Yang sighed, sitting back hard.  "I just don't get it," she said, frowning.  "Is it REALLY that big?"  The looks on the others' faces answered that question for her.  She still had another she had to ask.  "...do you trust them?"

The reactions were mixed.  Ruby looked optimistically cautious, Nora was hesitantly indecisive, but Ren was firmly defiant, his eyes hard and cold as steel though his expression was passive at best.

She glanced at Weiss, who had stopped eating some time ago and was nursing her second cup of tea with shaking hands.  She still seemed rattled from what that Tyrian man had done earlier, which wasn't funny even as a joke, and Yang was loathed to stress her out even more. 

But Jaune choosing to leave with Emerald, Mercury, and Tyrian raised questions, red flags, and the desire to KNOW.

Yang sighed, sitting back and crossing her arms.  "...alright," she said, flexing her left hand.  "I'll listen to what they have to say.  But I won't make any promises about getting along with them.  I have questions..."  She frowned, glancing away.  "...and not just for THEM."

Ruby looked relieved, giving her sister a small smile.  "...thank you, Yang," she said softly.  The smile faded.  "...just...please.  Keep an open mind, alright?"  Her hands wrung on the table, her knuckles almost bloodless.  "...things happened, Yang...things you wouldn't believe unless you saw them yourself."  She looked at Ren and Nora, who had gone much quieter and left the rest of their food untouched, appetites gone.

Yang nodded.  "Okay."  She sighed.  "Okay.  So...what now?"  Across from her, Ruby stood up and brushed her skirt off.

"I'll go get the others," she said.  "Qrow and Oscar too."  She turned to the exit, then paused.  "...if Jaune doesn't want to tell you EVERYTHING...don't push him, okay?"  Her fingers twitched at her sides.  "Just KNOWING is...almost too much for us.  He's shouldered a lot more since then."  She left to the lanai, and Yang gave Ren and Nora questioning looks.

Nora chewed on her lip.  "...yeah, she's not wrong," she said, giving Ren a shared look of mutual tired pain.  "And whether Ren and I agree with everything Jaune does...what he had to go through-"

"We owe it to him," Ren added in, sounding like he was loathed to say it himself.  "That's all there is to it."  He closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath before letting it out.  "...we should just get this over with."  He stood up too, helping Nora up and heading into the living room.

Weiss and Yang looked at one another before following, Weiss keeping her hands around her tea cup.  They took their seats on the couch, hearing Ruby's faint voice out on the lanai and Nora's out in the front with Qrow and Oscar.  Ren sat on the other end of the couch, keeping his eyes averted as Ruby and Nora came back with the others.

Quelling down the initial rage, Yang had a more clear line of vision for Emerald and Mercury.  There was no put-on friendliness or hostility from Emerald, but instead nervousness and introverted fear, looking drawn into herself like a scared little girl.  She stuck close to Mercury, who had none of the cockiness or bravado she once knew him for.  Instead he looked as though his fight-or-flight response was teetering between which one to take, his eyes flicking to every possible exit as he sat with Emerald as far from Qrow as he could.

Tyrian perched himself up on a chair in a crouched position next to the end of the couch Jaune sat at with Emerald and Mercury.  The Faunus's tail was wrapped around his waist in perfect camouflage to his belt, but Yang still felt an air of danger around him, knowing that his seated stance was made for quick retaliation in case of attack.  It let her know that he was ready to throw down in case things went south, which was, admittedly, smart on his part.

Jaune was seated upright, his back straight and arms crossed, also ready to retaliate in any way he saw fit.  His protective air of Emerald and Mercury was a mystery in and of itself, but Yang's instincts were screaming at her that he was much more dangerous than Tyrian was.  It only raised even more questions to ask them all.

Everyone sat in uncomfortable, almost hostile silence for the longest time before Qrow cleared his throat.  "Right," he said gruffly.  "I'm sure everything will be...well, not BETTER with everything out in the open, but at least we'll all be on the same page."  He looked over at Weiss and Yang.  "...if you came from Raven's place, I'm sure she's told you plenty about what's been happening."

Yang nodded, crossing her arms.  "Yeah," she said.  "You could say that."  She saw Qrow look at Oscar pointedly, and the boy sigh before a visible shift in aura enveloped him.

"You are not the only one with questions, Miss Xiao Long," the boy said, a definite feel of Ozpin coming through.  Next to her, Weiss let out a tiny gasp, both of them knowing now for sure that Raven had been right.  "But in getting the mutual knowledge out of the way, Oscar is, indeed, my current incarnation."

Weiss wrung her hands tightly around her tea cup.  "...so it's true," she murmured.  "...coming back from the dead...magic...it's all true?"

Ozpin nodded.  "Yes," he said.  "It is."

"And this...Salem?" Yang added, noting a visible flinch from the others.  "...that's true too."

Another somber nod from Ozpin.  "Unfortunately," he said, looking at the group.  "I can't speak for everyone here...but I can at least say that they know first-hand just how painfully true it all is."

Yang looked at Ruby, who was visibly paler, and felt her left hand quiver and clench, having not seen that look on her face before.  Her little's sister's eyes were haunted and flashing a horrifying scene before them, nothing she ever wanted to see on Ruby's face, ever.  "What happened?" she demanded, looking at everyone else.  Everyone sans Tyrian and Jaune looked near as close as Ruby did, and even Emerald and Mercury looked physically ill.  

"A very convoluted and complicated tale," Tyrian said, looking almost amused by it.  "It all began with me, requiring to fetch the little flower for Salem."

Yang's blood went hot.  "Excuse me?" she demanded almost deathly quietly, her eyes shifting red.  Tyrian appeared to not notice, or if he did, he simply didn't care as he continued.

"I brought them all before her, but there were...changes in creeds and situations."  He shrugged.  "Not that you need to know specifics, them being none of your business, but in the end, we all left Salem and made our way here, to Mistral."

"That tells us NOTHING!" Yang cried, jumping to her feet.  "Who the hell even ARE you!?  WHY are you with them?!"  She shot a look to Jaune.  "And why are YOU protecting them!?"  She ignored Ruby tugging on her hand to get her to quiet down.  "Ruby said it mostly had to do with you, but I don't see how or why!"

Jaune returned her glaring with a level stare of his own, then slowly reached up and unclasped his cape and slipped it off.  There was a very out-of-place black THING around his waist that slowly uncurled itself, and Weiss draw further back into the couch with a choke of horror when it was shown to be a thick black scorpion tail with a golden stinger.

"THIS is why," he replied, the tail swaying slightly behind him.  "I ingested ichor from a Deathstalker, and this is what happened.  It was literal torture when I changed, and I thought I was going to die.  And now I'm permanently part Grimm, all because I was unlucky enough to have enough aura to withstand the change."  He gestured to Emerald and Mercury.  "They were there when it happened, and they were just as scarred by it as Ren, Ruby, and Nora were.  That's not even to mention the fact that with Cinder gone, Salem would have probably had them killed.  They chose to stick with us after all this."

Everyone sat in silence after he was finished speaking, until Yang looked over at Tyrian, feeling a slight twist in her gut when she saw the way he was looking at Jaune, almost like a lovesick puppy.  She grimaced, gesturing to him.  "And what about him?" she demanded weakly.  "He tried to bring Ruby in to Salem, so why would he-"

"Jaune was his reward for bringing in Ruby," Qrow cut in, sounding like he was sick and tired of keeping his mouth shut about it.  "HE was the one who forced Grimm ichor down Jaune's throat, HE was the one who turned Jaune into that THING, and for some ungodly reason, he decided Jaune was worth more than Salem so he bailed with us in spite of everything he did to cripple our efforts in fighting her."  He kept his eyes averted from Tyrian's now-purple glower.  "I'm sick of sugarcoating it just to spare feelings when the fact remains that Jaune is LETTING that psycho tag along despite EVERYTHING."

"Qrow," Ozpin said firmly, his eyes narrowing.  "I understand more than anyone the horrors that Salem can inflict on someone, but-"

"No, no, let him finish," Tyrian said, his tail unfurling from his waist and swaying behind him.  "By all means.  Finish your venting, little bird.  Take your frustration of your helplessness out on him.  It's best we get all of this out in the open, isn't it?"  His unblinking stare was a poisonous purple that almost seemed to burn just to look at.  "Tell the little dragon the rest.  Damned with Jaune's dignity, right?  As long as she knows how much YOU suffered."  

He stood up with everyone else leaning back on reflex, putting a hand on Jaune's shoulder.  "My only regret is that I was the one to cause the suffering of my golden boy.  But I won't apologize for it.  In the end, we both had an agreement of what we wanted as a means to an end.  And since then, I have not been the one to be the cause of his suffering, but rather YOU all are, because you lack a certain amount of loyalty toward anything without a human face."  He gave Ozpin a glance, his eyes narrowing.  "Despite the fact that Ozzie is the most inhuman of any of us...right?"

Ozpin's hands clenched around his cane slightly, his jaw tight but saying nothing.  Tyrian's eyes faded back to gold as he looked back at Weiss and Yang.  

"Make your own assumptions at your leisure," he told them.  "But the fact remains that I have only had a hand in giving him a tail.  Anything else is your own paranoia and prejudice."  He paused, giving them an almost saucy smile.  "And while his tail IS irresistible, I insist you look elsewhere for a potential partner."  He leaned over, kissing Jaune's cheek.  "He's mine."

Weiss made a sound somewhere between choking on an ice cube and a mouse being stepped on while Yang's jaw dropped.  Jaune rolled his eyes.  "Do you have to do that every time, Tyrian?" he asked wearily.  

"Yes."

"Of course."  He put his cloak back on, but didn't bother curling his tail around his hips again.  "I need to go for a walk.  Talk about whatever you want, I don't care.  Nothing's a secret in this house anymore."  He gave Tyrian a look when the Faunus stood up.  "Alone, Tyrian."

Tyrian sat crouched back down in the chair, a look like a kicked puppy coming across his face and his head lowered in disappointment.  Still, he nodded and remained where he was as Jaune walked out of the house, shutting the door behind him with slightly more force than necessary.

Nora bit her lip, looking after the door.  "...should someone go after him?" she asked.  "...make sure he's okay?"

"Let him be, thunder," Tyrian said, his tail drooping sadly.  "If he's not back tonight, we'll go find him."  He paused and rubbed his face, his expression uncharacteristically troubled before he stood up.  "I need tea.  Excuse me."  He walked back into the kitchen, his shoulders stiff.

Mercury looked doubly uncomfortable with both Jaune and Tyrian out of the room, and then triply with the idea of being at all safe with Tyrian around.  Emerald didn't look much better, but didn't seem to want to risk even using her Semblance with so many others there.  They both remained still as attention was turned back to them, with Weiss looking more curious than anything but Yang still apparently smarting.

Ruby, thankfully, read the room and broke the silence amicably before Yang could.  "We're all in the same boat here," she said, addressing everyone but mostly Yang and Weiss.  "It's not a good situation for anyone.  But...even if we're not all comfortable with it, we're...somehow...making it work."  She looked to Yang.  "Jaune was right, Yang.  Emerald and Mercury were stuck between a rock and a hard place, but they still chose to stick with us.  Our motives are different, but we're all on the same side right now."

Yang's jaw was tight, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.  "Yeah," she said spitefully, "they seem to CHOOSE a lot of things.  Like messing with my mind.  Making me HATED in the Vital Tournament.  Destroying Beacon.  KILLING people.  Real tough decisions there."

"Oh, fuck you, blondie!" Mercury snapped, his eyes going dark.  "Before Beacon, what first-world problems did you even HAVE growing up?"  He kept going before she had a chance to speak.  "When have you ever had to actually struggle to LIVE?  To make a choice between someone else's life and your own?  To live every day knowing there wasn't a single person in the world who gave a damn about you, and that it was only yourself you had to live for?!"

He clenched his hands into his pant legs, looking almost pained.  "You want our life stories to justify ourselves?  FINE.  It all started when my mom ditched me and ran off to be with the next bad boy she could sink her claws into, leaving me with my dad who taught me from a young age the cold, hard truths of the world - the WORST kinds of truths!."

"Mercury..." Emerald mumbled, clenching her eyes shut.  He paid her no heed.

"Daddy dearest was an assassin who taught me everything he knew.  He would drag me to his jobs and make me learn, make me participate in any way he saw fit, and leave me to die if I screwed up, so I had to learn quick or die young."  Everyone swore his breath hitched.  "And when I turned thirteen, he decided that it was time for him to 'make a man out of me'.  That was my birthday present.  And it wasn't the last time."  His hands shook, tightening into his pants in an attempt to stop the shaking.  "I fought back when I was sixteen and had enough, and he decided to beat the shit out of me and shoot out my legs to teach me a lesson-"

"Mercury, stop...!"

"Shut up, Emerald!  He left me there to bleed, knowing my aura couldn't heal my legs in time to save them!  But I stepped up, blondie!  I stepped up and fought back and broke that bastard's neck, even with my legs about to snap out from underneath me, I FOUGHT BACK.  And I WON."  

He went quiet, his shoulders suddenly slumping and hands unclenching before he pulled up his pant leg, showing his metal leg.  "...I got new legs as payment for joining Cinder," he said, his voice thick and tired.  "I had to have my legs cut off and replaced and had to relearn how to fight all in the span of a week in order to earn my living in her faction.  But damn if it wasn't heaven compared to the rest of my godforsaken life."  He lowered his pant leg again, his shoulders shaking softly.  "...and even then, it was still doing what I had to in order to live.  And now...?"  He let out a mirthless bark of laughter, covering his face with his hands.  "The first time I've been treated like a human being, it's by TWO MONSTERS WHO AREN'T EVEN HUMAN!  WHO DON'T WANT ANYTHING FROM ME!"

He laughed harder, his voice choking wetly as Emerald pressed her hands to her mouth, her eyes shining with tears she was trying and failing to hold back.  The rest of the room didn't dare to move or barely breathe as Mercury's fit slowly subsided, the boy doubled over gasping for breath in the midst of hysterics.  After what seemed like forever, Mercury sat up, leaning back against the couch, his face pale and damp with tears.

"...I won't apologize for what I did," he said, his voice sounding as dead as his eyes looked.  "...I did what I had to in order to live.  But I am sorry everyone had to suffer for it."  He let out a shaky, suffering sigh before rubbing his face and standing up, swaying slightly before getting his balance.  "I'm gonna just...go to bed now."  He walked out of the living room and down into the hall, no one daring to move until they heard the door shut.

Ruby was crying silent tears, her very soul shaken to the core as she looked over at Emerald.  The girl looked as though some of that was news even to her, shaking where she sat and looking paler than she had before it all started.  "...Emerald...?" she prodded delicately, noticing the other girl flinch slightly.  "...Emerald, I..."  She quieted down when Tyrian reentered the room, walking over to Emerald and taking one of her hands away to put a small cup of tea into it.  The heat of the cup seemed to ground her elsewhere as she took to holding it in both hands, looking somberly into the amber-colored liquid silently.

"It will do you no good to work yourself into a woken nightmare, gem," Tyrian said, his expression almost tender.  "Our golden boy would be most displeased if you or quicksilver became so unwell."  He nudged her up from the couch, turning her to the hallway.  "Go rest now.  You owe no one an explanation of your past."  He gave her another nudge, sending her off to the bedroom.  After she left, he turned to scan the room, his eyes cold and almost bitter.

"You would do well not to upset them," he said thickly.  "Whatever sins you believe them to be guilty of, they have paid back in blood and then some.  Any further mistreatment of them will not be tolerated."

Qrow's jaw twitching, having been admittedly shaking himself by Mercury's tale.  "And we won't tolerate your threats, Callows," he retorted.  Tyrian's eyes narrowed, his tail going rigid before snaking around his waist.

"It's not my threats you should be worried about, little bird," he said.  "And you know it."  He tossed his braid over his shoulder, giving Yang and Weiss a sweeping look.  "If it are answers you want, being vindictive little shrews isn't the way to get them.  Nor is upsetting my golden boy, or those he regards as his own.  Listen to the little flower, dragon.  She's the only other one here with the common sense to keep the peace."  He brushed his pants, turning to the lanai.  "Tea is in the kitchen.  All of you need it."  And then he left.

Ruby didn't FEEL like she was the only other one with common sense to keep the peace.  She had never felt less peaceful in her life, and the burden of having to keep both sides from killing each other was wearing down on her fast.

She let out a sigh and rubbed her face, standing up and heading to the kitchen.  If no one else was going to get that tea, she might as well do it herself.


	14. Chapter 14

Emerald came stumbling out of the bedroom at an ungodly time of morning before the sun was even hinting at the horizon, her head pounding from the effort it was taking to suppress her own nightmares.  Tyrian's tea had helped somewhat, but her nerves were still shot to hell and back and sleep was out of the question.  Food always seemed to help her shaken nerves anyway, so she figured she'd see what was left of last night to pick at before perhaps going for a nighttime walk.

She was too tired to notice someone else in the kitchen until she heard a small gasp of surprise, snapping her head up and seeing Weiss with a kettle of hot water poised over a coffee strainer.  They stared in still silence for a moment before Emerald mumbled something along the lines of an excuse and turned to leave.

"Wait."

Emerald paused then turned back around, seeing Weiss grab another cup from the open cabinet.  "...how do you take your coffee?" Weiss asked.  Emerald was silent for a long moment, wondering if this was a trick or not, but the earnesty in Weiss's expression had her concede. 

"Half cream, no sugar," she said.  Weiss nodded and filled the second cup halfway with coffee before adding warmed cream as the second half and handing it over to Emerald.  Emerald took it, hesitating before she took a sip, the hot drink giving her some much-needed warmth inside.  

"...thanks," she said, shifting her weight from foot to foot nervously.  Weiss filled up her own cup, adding only a dollop of cream to her satisfaction and turning to Emerald, looking just as nervous but too tired to make something of it.

"...you couldn't sleep either?" Weiss asked.  Emerald shook her head.

"No," she replied.  "Who could, after that mess?"  She rubbed her eyes taking another sip.  

"I think Ruby and the others are only asleep out of stress alone," Weiss remarked.  "I haven't slept well for..."  She paused as though to think.  "...since Beacon, actually."

Emerald looked down at her coffee cup, feeling a twinge of guilt.  "...neither have I," she admitted.  "I've never...really experienced anything like that before.  Especially with crowds."  She wrapped her hands around her cup.  "...I'm...I..."

"I get it," Weiss cut in with a nod.  "...you don't have to say it.  It's all over your face."  She took a sip of her own drink, sighing.  "It's just a lot to take in, even after everything that's happened.  My mind doesn't even know where to start."

"You're not the only one, trust me," Emerald replied.  "It...still feels like yesterday since Cinder..."  She broke off, wincing.  "...she was...horrible to you, but she saved my life and gave it purpose...even if that purpose was for her own means.  But still...it hurt.  Having her die.  It's complicated."

Weiss was contemplative for a long moment before nodding, leaning against the counter.  "...I know," she said.  "My father is a horrible person.  He treated his wife as a commodity, his children like pawns, and the Faunus like slaves, but...thinking about it, if anything were to happen to him...he's still my father.  So I get it."  She nodded to the dining room, sitting down at the table quietly with Emerald joining her in the near-dark solitude.

Emerald took in the silence, feeling her nerves calm somewhat as she took in Weiss's demeanor.  The heiress was surprisingly calm and open despite her first encounter back in Beacon, like she had matured years within just the past few months.  It even showed in her face and especially her eyes, the effect almost jarring in comparison to Ruby and the others.  That in addition to Weiss's comment about her father made Emerald wonder exactly what was wrong in Atlas's ivory tower.

"Something tells me you've had your own version of hell," Emerald remarked, setting her cup down.  The way she saw Weiss's hands clench around her own cup spoke volumes.  "Quid pro quo?"

Weiss's lips twitched humorlessly.  "I guess so," she replied before taking another sip.  "In the past nine months, I've had my father rip me away from my team and take me back to Atlas, forced to perform like a caged bird, had my inheritance taken away, disinherited myself from my family, kidnapped by Yang's mom, and came back to almost everyone I know having...changed."  She let out a sigh, looking down into her half-empty cup.  "...I don't think I've...absorbed it all in yet, to be honest."

Emerald nodded quietly.  "Yeah," she said.  She rubbed her eyes tiredly despite the caffeine.  "...I didn't expect a warm welcome, anyway.  Never have, so..."  She shrugged.  "But the past week or so's been...I dunno...I can't even call it 'normal'.  I mean...what's normal to someone who's been a street rat all her life, picked up by a devil-goddess acolyte, and then part of a ragtag team with a psycho Faunus, an emotionally-damaged cyborg, and a part-Grimm and his team of wannabe-hero kids?"  She laughed softly, though there was no humor or good nature in the laugh.  "...But...IS that normal?  Being part of a group with...nothing expected of you?  Not having to prove your usefulness?"

Weiss shrugged.  "I wouldn't know," she replied.  "My life was nothing but 'you're made for this, you're set for that' until I had the teenage-stricken urge to rebel and apply for Beacon instead of Atlas.  Then I was expected to be the perfect Schnee doll to prove myself worthy of being outside that glass tower.  I don't think I even ever had FUN until I started opening up to my team.  But even then, it felt unnatural to trust others with my life and my happiness.  Especially Blake."  She nibbled her lip.  "So...isolation and being used...that's my 'normal' too.  Even if it's different from...yours."

"I wouldn't want your problems," Emerald replied, giving Weiss a dry smirk.  "Performing in front of people?  Just pretending to be a Haven student was taxing enough.  I never learned to look people in the eye before Cinder, so you can imagine the hell of having to go to state dinners and concerts would be like."  She leaned her head on her hand, brushing the cup with her finger, looking lost in thought before speaking again.  

"...I never personally knew my parents, but I know my dad was high-profile in the casino industry, and my mom was his mistress.  So what does a rich socialite do when his mistress has a bastard kid?  Keeps it shoved under the rug."  She rolled her eyes.  "His wife found out and had her people shoot him dead, my mom got caught in the crossfire, and I was dumped in an orphanage on the outskirts of Vale."  She paused to finish her cooled coffee.

"Life isn't kind of orphans in the ghettos.  You're better off fending for yourself rather than being at the mercy of the perverts who run the places.  I was lucky...my Semblance shielded me from the worst of it, and I ran as soon as I got the chance.  But it's hard for a kid to control something they don't even fully understand.  I could only manipulate one mind at a time, so my opportunities to get food and basic necessities was limited.  I would go for days at a time without food, since a couple of bad timings had my profile picture on most every food stall and store in the town."

She sighed, tracing a pattern on the table top.  "Cinder found me...gave me purpose, helped me hone my Semblance and fighting, and promised I'd never starve again as long as I was with her.  And even if she was using me, she kept her promise.  I guess a little bit of kindness does go a long way, huh?"

Weiss contemplated her coffee, nodding softly.  "Yeah," she said quietly, "I guess it does."  She finished her own.  "...what can you tell me about Jaune?"

Emerald swallowed hard, her finger trembling over the table top.  "...I didn't want that to happen to him," she said honestly.  "I saw someone being tortured from the inside out for the use and possession of the worst kind of person...and then three days later, a huge change I still can't explain."  She rubbed her eyes.  "From what I've witnessed, Tyrian wanted someone 'like himself', and thought Jaune was the best option.  I thought Jaune was going to be his pet or something...and Cinder and Mercury thought so too.  But when they came back a couple days later...it was switched."

"Switched?" Weiss parroted.  Emerald nodded.

"Tyrian treats Jaune like a deity," she said.  "He's still a total crazy bastard, but he obeys what Jaune tells him to do.  Something happened while they were gone those few days...but they haven't even hinted as to what it was.  And at this point, I don't want to know."

Weiss nodded, her eyes wide.  "...I see," she said.  "...is he...much different?  Personality-wise, I mean..."

Emerald thought for a moment.  "...from what I can remember...not THAT different...but definitely something more," she finally said.  "Like he has his own agenda that only Tyrian knows about.  But..."  She lowered her eyes to the table.  "...he's kind to me and Mercury.  He says that this is our home too...that we're as good as teammates to him...he protects us and defends us, and...it's weird...compared to what we're used to."

The two girls sat in silence, contemplating their empty cups for the longest time.

"...do you want some more?" Weiss asked, gesturing to Emerald's cup. 

Emerald quietly nodded.  "...yeah," she said.  "Thanks."

Weiss nodded back.  "Of course," she said, taking them and standing.  "...Ruby said we need to be on the same page...and I'm inclined to agree.  I don't know or understand a lot, but if you've all made it this far together...there's got to be something holding you there, right?"  She gave Emerald a small smile and went to refill the coffee cups, leaving the older girl sitting at the table thankful that the dark hid the tears in her eyes.

* * *

 

Mercury sat quietly on the wall of the lanai, looking out over the lights of the city below.  He had made a retreat through the window to avoid any unnecessary confrontation that may arise in the house, and he was grateful for the fresh air and cool breeze on his tear-stung face.  In some odd way, while he was smarting from having his past dredged up, he felt lighter and more free than he had since the day he killed his father.  It was out in the open, and he had talked about it, not having to shoulder it like a shroud of secrets anymore.

There was a shame to what had happened to him, but more pride in hindsight at having lived through it.  Marcus Black had wronged him in the worst possible ways, but Mercury was alive and kicking, even in this clusterfuck of a new team.  So he allowed himself this moment of freedom, damn anyone else.

It was speaking of 'anyone else' that he heard the lanai door quietly slide open and footsteps trek outside toward him.  He kept his guard up but his eyes forward, too drained for a fight and too light to really actually care.  Still, his hand clenched slightly when he saw golden hair in his peripheral and tightened his jaw to keep from making the first snappy comment. 

Yang said nothing, resting her arms on the wall with her prosthetic shining in the moonlight closest to Mercury as she looked over the valley in silence until enough time had passed to let both of them know neither was geared up for a fight, and then she spoke.  "If you kick me in the head, I'll definitely deserve it," she said quietly.  The comment alone made Mercury blink and glance over at her, noting her tired expression. 

"The thought HAD crossed my mind," he replied.  "But we're too close to witnesses."  He rolled his shoulders, sighing.  "What do you want?"

Yang was quiet for a moment.  "...to apologize," she finally said.  "Nothing turned out the way I could even imagine it, but if Ruby trusts you enough after everything that happened to say we're on the same page...I should have believed her."

Mercury made a noncommittal sound, turning back to the valley.  "Can't blame you for not, though," he said.  "I'd be pissed off too if the guy who stabbed me in the back suddenly showed his face again."

"That's not all what I meant," she said.  "I shouldn't have pushed you to say all that stuff.  It wasn't relevant to what was going on now, and it was none of my business."  She sighed, running a hand through her hair.  "I'm working on my temper.  But it's a lot to work through when it's been my driving force since I discovered my Semblance...and everything that happened leading up to it hasn't exactly been fun and uplifting either."

When Mercury said nothing, she continued.  "...my mom ditched me too," she said, that at least getting his attention.  "She never gave me a straight answer when I saw her yesterday...just that Ozpin's work or whatever apparently horrified her enough to ditch me and run back to a tribe of bandits.  I finally find her, and she doesn't even apologize for abandoning me, on top of kidnapping Weiss and trying to kick me out of the camp when I didn't tell her what she wanted to hear."  She snorted.  "I don't know what I expected, but it was nothing like I imagined." 

She stretched back before slumping forward on the wall again.  "...I didn't have the horror show of your childhood, but mine wasn't sunshine and rainbows either.  My world came crashing down when I was seven and the woman I THOUGHT was my mom...wasn't.  So on top of the only mother I've ever known never came back from a mission, my dad emotionally shutting down, and my baby sister not getting any parental attention, I had to step in and keep things together.  I had to learn that sometimes family disappoints you in the worst ways, and you have to be your own strength."  She rubbed her face, feeling a sting of tears in her eyes.  "...I think that's where my Semblance came in...when I realized no one was going to save me and I had to be strong enough to save myself when the chips went down.  I was twelve when I realized that, and it was only THEN that my dad really came back to train me for Signal.  But...it's hard to depend on someone that wasn't there at your weakest, you know?"

Yang looked at her prosthetic, flexing the fingers.  "I couldn't even trust myself to depend on him when he tried to pull me out of my funk for seven months.  When he tried to get me to put on my new arm.  I guess I was just finally tired of picking up pieces...and after all that, I come here and find more of my friends and family shattered.  I just snapped...feeling it just...happen all over again."

Mercury shifted his weight, sighing.  "You don't have to explain yourself to me anymore than I do to you," he said.  "Shit happens.  Life sucks.  All you can do is just...get through it.  Live.  Screw parents and all that."  He looked down at the valley again.  "Just find what works for you and run with it."

"Is that what you call all this?" Yang asked.  "Because it looks more like a crapstorm to me.  Jaune being part Grimm?  A psychopathic murderer tagging along?  Nothing makes sense."

"You're not alone in that, trust me," Mercury said.  "But in some screwed-up way, that's what works right now.  No offense, but your uncle is higher on my shit list than Tyrian is, and that guy used to be top spot.  Jaune...he..."  He frowned, thinking.  "...he defends me...and Emerald.  He GETS that despite all the bullshit we've dealt with, we still have no idea what we're supposed to do with ourselves.  So he makes things...easier.  By treating us like people.  Can't say it's something I'm used to, to be honest."

Yang nodded, biting her lip as guilt trickled down her spine for her initial treatment of both Mercury and Jaune.  "...is he...very different?" she had to ask.  Mercury said nothing for a good long while to the point where Yang started to get nervous before he spoke.

"You wouldn't think so, unless you KNEW," he finally said.  "He's...still earnest and helpful and...sometimes I swear he's dumb on purpose."  He frowned.  "...but then he gets mad.  And you FEEL the difference, as well as see it."  He rubbed his arms, a visible shudder running over him.  "I don't know HOW Tyrian can be around him when that happens."

They remained silent after that, contemplating the valley below until fatigue began to wear down on them.  Yang rubbed her eyes, sitting up straight.  "I need sleep," she muttered.  "WAY too much to process awake."

"No shit," Mercury concurred, though he made no move to get down from the fence.  "...sorry about your arm, blondie.  Trust me, I know how much losing a limb sucks.  I don't wish it on anyone."

Yang was quiet for a moment before nodding.  "Thanks," she said.  "Really."  She turned to leave.  "...night, Merc."

"Night, blondie."

As she walked back inside, she didn't notice someone on top of the roof staring at her with glowing gold eyes that followed unblinking until she was inside, and then still didn't blink when a corvid landed behind him and reformed into a man.

"Callows, we need to talk."


	15. Chapter 15

Tyrian rolled his shoulders, glancing behind him at Qrow with his lightly-glowing gold eyes.  "Do we, little bird?" he asked lightly, a teasing smile on his lips, turning around.  Qrow's red eyes narrowed, looking like he didn't particularly WANT this talk, but NEEDED it.

"We do."  Qrow crossed his arms, looking mutinous.  "It's not something we can be kept in the dark about any longer.  So I want you to answer me...what the hell happened to Jaune?"

Tyrian's tail swayed behind him, his expression frozen in mirth but his eyes glimmering with several emotions all at once.  "You were there, little bird," he replied.  "You know."

"And YOU know what I MEAN," Qrow snapped, though keeping his voice at a volume that the kids wouldn't pick up on inside.  "You and Jaune were gone three days, and everything was different.  "I want to know what the hell happened."

*  *  *

 

Jaune toweled his hair dry, enjoying the quiet solitude of the dark bathroom with only soft moonlight through the clouded mirror illuminating anything.  He hadn't wanted to make any further distraction with a shower, and so he kept the light off in the bathroom, able to see perfectly in the dark without it.  He had already been out far too late with his walk and coming home to a silent house only made his desire to remain unseen resolve.

He wiped his tail dry, flicking a few stray beads of water off of the aculus with a deft flick, and tugged on some comfortable lounge pants to sleep in before going stock still in realization that someone had opened the bathroom door whilst his back was to it.  It only took a moment and a brief sniff of the air to catch the scent of Ren's always-present negative emotion in the thick air.

Ren said nothing while Jaune waited just long enough for it to go from awkward to downright uncomfortable, sighing softly as he turned around.  Ren seemed to be trying not to stare while not wanting to look away at the same time, a feel of something wanting -needing- to be said hanging between them.  But still, Ren said nothing, and Jaune quickly tired of the awkwardness, having had enough of it for one day as it was.  

He turned to pick up Crocea Mors which he had set to the side, reaching up with his free hand and rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly.  "If you've got nothing to say, Ren, then-"

"Why him?"

Jaune stilled at the sudden question, looking over at Ren and seeing plainly that his teammate hadn't intended to actually say what he had been thinking.  Ren's hands flexed tightly at his sides, resolve steeling in his eyes as he figured he might as well continue with his vein of thought, though his voice seemed to be fighting with his mind over how and when to actually do it.  Jaune frowned, his back straightening.  "...why him who?" he asked.  A shadow on Ren's jaw showed the other boy was clenching his teeth in an effort to censor his words, but Jaune wasn't having it.  "Why what, Ren?" he demanded.  "What are you talking about?"

Ren's eyes clenched shut.  "Why HIM, JAUNE?" he bit out, his voice being kept low but the tone strong enough that Jaune could mistake it for shouting.  "Why...just...WHY do you indulge that psychopath?!  WHY do you let him play his sick games?!  How can you...WHY do you..."  He broke off, sounding like he couldn't bring him self to say what it was he was implying, but Jaune caught the implications well enough.  

The demi-Grimm scowled, his hand clenching tightly around Crocea Mors as he swallowed back his own instinctive anger.  

*  *  *

 

Tyrian's eyes gleamed softly, his tail swaying behind him almost hypnotically.  "Why so curious, little bird?" he purred.  "It's bad manners to inquire about someone's love life, you know."

"Cut the shit, Callows," Qrow snapped with a sharp gesture of his hand.  "I've had enough of being in the dark with this!  After everything that Ruby, Ren, and Nora were put through, we're owed some goddamn answers!"  He took a step forward, his eyes sharp and furious.  "So you tell me right now.  What the hell did you do?"

The Faunus was silent for several long moments, his tail having stilled and his expression slowly melding from teasing to contemplative.  Tyrian made a thoughtful humming sound, closing his eyes with a slow nod.  "It's not what I did, little bird," he finally said, his voice having an almost reverent tilt to it.  "It's what HE did."  He reached up with one hand, his fingers brushing his throat in a near-caress.  

_Hands around his throat, tightening with an inhuman grip._

"I wanted a mate...someone to call my own, finally, at last...but what an absolute fool I was to think a mere lowly mortal could dare to keep a godling in his possession..."

_Red eyes glaring down at him with enough force to physically feel._

_A tangible black aura staining the host's white, immune entirely to the Faunus's own Semblance._

Qrow scowled.  "And THAT," he pointed out.  "Why the hell do you keep calling Jaune a godling?  And why did you leave Salem?"

*  *  *

 

"It's not a game, Ren," Jaune said thickly.  "How can you even say that after everything?"  It seemed to be the wrong thing to say.  Ren's expression looked torn and disbelieving as though a piece of his world had shattered.

"...you're joking, right?" Ren demanded weakly.  "You can't...you can't honestly tell me that you're actually...REALLY...involved with him that way...you CAN'T, Jaune..."

"Ren, why are you acting this way?" Jaune asked, becoming more confused by the moment.  "What's going on?  Just TALK to me-"

"TALK to you, Jaune!?" Ren snapped, his voice teetering on hysteria.  "TALK to you!?  Like how YOU talk to US about...THIS?!"  He made an aimless gesture that was definitely more at Jaune's tail than anything else.  "About how you leave a broken toy for that freak and come back a completely different person?  About how you let him touch you and talk like you're actual lovers-"

"WE ARE, REN," Jaune found himself almost shouting back without even thinking about it.  Ren's lingering words fell flat, mouth open soundlessly at Jaune's contradiction to his own conclusions.  "....we are," Jaune repeated, his voice much softer than before as though to assuage the verbal blow.  Against his own hopes, the suasion was pointless as Ren's head shook slowly in disbelief.

"No," he said, sounding more like he was trying to convince Jaune more than himself.  Jaune's firm silence made him shake his head harder.  "No, Jaune.  No.  You don't mean that."

"Ren-"

"YOU DON'T MEAN THAT."  Ren took a long stride forward, almost in Jaune's face.  "You wouldn't do that, Jaune.  Not to yourself, not to US-"

"Ren-!"

"NOT TO _HER_!"  Ren snatched Crocea Mors from Jaune's hand, holding it up to have the moonlight glint off of the gold lining.  "You wouldn't be so cold as to have a relationship with that monster...after EVERYTHING he's done, EVERYTHING he stands for!...with her armor...her MEMORY...attached to you!  You wouldn't defile her memory like that!  You WOULDN'T!"

He broke off, and pink and blue eyes stared in the dark silence.

*  *  * 

 

Tyrian's smile went teasing again, though his eyes held a serious light.  "Ponder me this, little bird," he said.  "Before Ozzie told you about the Brother-Gods, which deity did you worship?"  He paced the rooftop around Qrow as the other frowned at the odd question.  "Was it the bandit god Rouge?  Or perhaps Herne, god of the hunt and forests?  Maybe Isha, the goddess of silence and protection, or even Corva of the birds?"  He continued to pace as Qrow kept an eye on him, looking amused at the little bird's obvious confusion.

"What's your point?" Qrow demanded.  "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Oh, everything, little bird," Tyrian answered, his smile broadening.  "Why else does one abandon a god in lieu of another?"  He stopped in front of Qrow, his eyes glowing softly.  "A man worships a god so long as that god provides for them, of course."

Qrow clenched his hands, wary of where this was going.  "I don't follow," he said.  "What can Jaune give you that Salem CAN'T?"  He paused.  "...on second thought, don't answer that-"

"Oh, Salem was more than capable of giving me pleasure, little bird," Tyrian giggled.  "I am not bound by physical pleasures; praises and commands give me just as much of a thrill as hands and tongues would."  He smiled, amused at Qrow's obvious disgusted discomfort.  "But it was not what she could do for me...rather what I was allowed to do for HER."

His tail swayed, purring softly.  "I have so much devotion to give, so many other ways to worship than by obeying commands, but I was never given the chance to.  My body was so very willing to be more than a killing hand, and yet I was sorely underused and neglected.  When I devote my worship, I want to give my EVERYTHING, little bird.  Every inch, I want used and loved, and that is what my golden godling gave."  He let out a shiver, licking his lips with a guttural purr.

_Looking at the beast prepared to kill him._

_Feeling no fear._

_Only adoration._

_Reaching up, not to attempt to free himself, but to touch the beast's face._

_"....beautiful...."_

"What else does one do when what they thought their prize instead becomes their god?" Tyrian pondered to himself, curling a hand around his neck.  "I was under his hand, ready to die by his will, the will of a true beast..."

_Red eyes flicked to the hand, the color fading softly to blue but losing none of the fire._

Tyrian flexed his hand, his expression dreamy.  "...but then he decided to become something MORE."

*  *  *

 

Jaune's eyes hardened, feeling his body quiver with rage.  "How dare you," he whispered viciously, clenching his hands tightly.  "How DARE you bring Pyrrha up like that, Ren.  How DARE you."  He grabbed Crocea Mors back, gripping the weapon tightly in a herculean effort to not misuse it.  "She has nothing to do with this!"

"Doesn't she, Jaune?  Because considering where we've been, who did this to you, and who they worked for, I'd say it has a LOT to do with her!"  Ren paused, swallowing hard as his eyes glistened with hot tears.  "We've been through a lot, Jaune.  Enough that I know that my partner...my LEADER...wouldn't be doing this to me.  You keep saying you're the same person  you've always been, but if you're serious about this...about HIM...then that can't be true.  Because Jaune Arc would drop dead before he would choose to be with someone associated with the people who killed Pyrrha."  His expression darkened.  "...let alone the person who was going to let us all die."

The fire in his blood was literally screaming at Jaune to start retaliating violently, but Jaune quelled it down with an iron will in spite of the fountain on negativity in front of him.  Something had to give, however, and he felt his own negativity slipping out of his hard-won control.

*  *  *

 

"Something more?" Qrow parroted back, eyes narrowing and feeling somewhat uncomfortable with Tyrian's gestures and tone.  

"Something more," Tyrian confirmed with a nod.  "Tell me little bird, do you think Jaune was the only human to be changed by Grimm ichor?"  His eyes glimmered with excitement.  "The Grimm Magnificum...the Nuckelavee...where do you think they came from?  All were once men like you and I."  He smiled at Qrow's paled expression.  "As I've said before, my golden boy is different from them...because he is neither man, or beast."  He licked his lips, almost salivating.  "And when one is neither man or beast, the only thing left one is...is a god."

Qrow swallowed back his nausea.  "It's hardly that simple," he muttered.

"Of that point we are in complete agreement," Tyrian concurred.  "It's a delicate balancing act we walk, Jaune and I.  If I were not there, what would he become but a monster, when that is all you people see and treat him as?"  He smiled, waiting for the light to go off in Qrow's head.  "Ahh, you see now, don't you?"  He gave Qrow a mocking bow. 

"It is yours truly that keeps him from becoming a true Grimm...my worship that keeps him a beautiful god among men and beasts."

*  *  *

 

_Feeling lucidity returning to his mind, realizing the horror of what he had become and what he was about to do to the Faunus's neck in his hands._

"What do YOU know!?" Jaune found himself snapping back with enough venom to make Ren flinch.  "What do YOU know, Ren, about what I've had to go through?!"  Any retort Ren would have had was cut off as Jaune's tail began to thrash.  

"And how DARE you bring Pyrrha into this!  SHE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!"  Jaune rubbed his eyes with his free hand, feeling it shake horribly.  "And how dare you imply I don't care, Ren.  I have suffered enough these past months knowing what I do now, about how she felt about me."  He felt tears leak from his eyes and tasted blood from having bit the inside of his mouth to keep himself grounded and from lashing out at his friend.

"She...she was my best friend, Ren..." he stammered, his voice trembling thick with emotion that threatened to overwhelm him.  "She wasn't just my partner, she was my BEST FRIEND...and..."  He felt a bark of hysterical laughter leave his chest.  "...and...right now...all I can think...is how the only merciful thing about her death...is that she died not knowing I didn't feel the same way about her that she did for me...!"

He could see Ren's incredulous expression through his tears, seeing that the other boy didn't seem to know which emotion to settle on from Jaune's confession.  Jaune held Crocea Mors tightly in both hands, the warm metal that was once a comfort in his travels now feeling like a burden.

"...how much of a heartless idiot do you think I felt after she kissed me and let me know how she'd felt about me all that time in Beacon?  How much I suffered knowing I couldn't save her, even after she gave her life for me?  The guilt of trying and failing to convince myself that I loved her that way...because I DIDN'T?  And I still don't."  His jaw tightened, as did his grip around his weapon as he looked Ren in the eye.  "I am TIRED of being guilty for everything I thought I did wrong, and I do NOT need you or anyone else telling me how I should feel then, or now."  

_Tasting no fear from the Faunus._

_Only adoration and softness._

Jaune wiped his eyes dry, his back straightening.  "...you were right about one thing, Ren.  I'm not the Jaune Arc you knew.  But now I have to wonder if I ever even WAS who you thought I had been."

*  *  *

 

"So what of it?" Qrow demanded weakly, trying not to let the gut-punch of information overwhelm him.  "What's in it for YOU?"

Tyrian's smile was almost devious.  "I already told you, little bird-"

"No, don't give me that," Qrow interrupted with a sharp wave of his hand.  "No one is entirely that devoted for nothing in return.  So you tell me...what is it you two are doing?"

The two men had a stalemate for a good long moment before Tyrian let out a dramatic sigh, putting his hands on his hips.  "Oh very well," the Faunus said, "you've caught on so there's no use in hiding it."  His smile and stare went cold and Qrow suddenly felt a tangible change in the Faunus's aura, something he couldn't quite put his finger on but it was enough to put him on edge.

"Recall, if you will, what it took to make Jaune into what he is now."  Tyrian began to pace slowly around the rooftop, his unblinking eyes never leaving Qrow.  "Would that not stand to reason that something of that sort could be in turn passed onto others in some way, shape, or form?"  He licked his teeth, his tail quivering as he waited for Qrow's epiphany.  "With every kiss...every bite...every glorious orgasm...little by little he takes me as one of his own."

_Entwining bodies with one another._

_Murmuring secrets and pasts with shared breaths._

_Planning._

_Promising._

Tyrian purred, curling his arms around himself as though barely able to contain the thrall of memories as Qrow looked on in disgust.  "I wanted someone like myself...but in the end, it's the other way around."  He gave Qrow a poisonous smile, insanity quivering in his eyes.  "This, little bird, is what we do for each other." 

Qrow almost found himself stepping back at Tyrian's expression, but a muffled shouting from inside the house made him look away for the briefest moment as he wondered what in the world could be going on inside.

Then he blinked and Tyrian was suddenly gone from the roof.

*  *  *

 

Ren felt colder inside than he ever thought possible, feeling his head shake with disbelief and betrayal.  He wanted so hard to believe that Jaune had simply been playing a part, keeping alliances with Tyrian to form an advantage down the line.  Emerald and Mercury, he could accept and forgive.  But this?

THIS?

"...so this is what you've chosen," he said, clenching his hands and looking away from Jaune.  "To be a monster, WITH monsters."  He scowled, forcing his unshed tears to stay where they were.  "...with HIM."

Jaune felt his soul flinch, sensing turmoil saturate from Ren in a disgustingly fragrant concoction his Grimm half took in.

Despair

Anger

Betrayal

Sadness

_Jealousy_

 .......

"I believe I made myself perfectly clear, lotus, what I would do to you if you made him cry again."

Ren whipped around, his heart leaping to his throat when he saw Tyrian behind him, expression murderous.  He took a step away from the Faunus and felt himself almost back into Jaune, flinching hard and feeling stuck between two deaths and no possible escape from either.

"Tyrian, stop."

Ren glanced back at Jaune, feeling his stomach drop from guilt when he saw the other boy's face streaked with dark-tinted tears.  Jaune paid them no heed, stepping to Ren's side and putting an arm out, not fully blocking but making it clear that Ren was not to be touched.  Tyrian's eyes were glowing purple, his tail rigid behind him as he contemplated Jaune's command and his own desire to make good on his word.

"Tyrian."  Jaune stepped up, blocking the Faunus's view from Ren.  "Enough."  He reached out and touched Tyrian's face, forcing the Faunus to look at him instead of Ren, a small feat in and of itself; Tyrian was nearly frothing at the mouth with the smell of poison from his stinger ready to be used, almost singlemindedly focused on completing his objective.

After what seemed like forever, the stiffness in poise to attack eased up from Tyrian's body, his tail going lax once more.  His eyes turned back to gold though they still held a spark of anger that would not be so easily snuffed out.  He relented in trying to look past Jaune toward his target and lowered his eyes almost childishly.  "...if you wish," he finally said.  He reached up and took Jaune's hand from his face, squeezing it lightly before turning and leaving the bathroom toward his bedroom.  Jaune followed silently, his own grip tightening on Crocea Mors as he forced himself to not look back at Ren behind him.

Qrow had followed Tyrian back into the house, seeing Emerald and Weiss halfway around the corner to the dining room looking like frightened children listening into a domestic fight.  Hearing Jaune talk Tyrian down from an apparent fight with Ren gave him an idea of what it was, and why Tyrian had suddenly gone back inside, and his suspicions proved correct the further into the house we went.

Ruby was huddled tightly on her bed with her hands over her ears, shaking softly with crying as Yang held her quietly and attempted to comfort her.  Nora was in the corner of the room with her arms around her legs and face pressed into her knees like she was waiting for the world to end.  As though sensing a rising tension in the house, Mercury remained outside and ready to bolt in case things went south.

Nothing Qrow said could be of comfort to any of the kids for any of their worries, and he knew that trying to talk would just end badly.  He doubled back for insurance that no one was going to be taking a weapon to anyone else, pausing at Ren still in the bathroom on his knees and hands over his face, and then continued back to the other end of the house.  Emerald and Weiss said nothing to him, sitting in the darkest corner of the dining room in a bid to hide away, and he respected their need for social invisibility and walked to the storage loft that served as another bedroom for himself and Oscar.

The young avatar was sitting in the corner, face wet with tears with the vacant look of a child at his wit's end.  His eyes flickering let Qrow know Ozpin was attempting some form of comfort that was obviously not working, and Qrow didn't know what else to do about it except pick up a blanket and drape it over the boy's shoulders before slumping onto his own bed pallet with a massive migraine and a sore heart.

* * *

 

Tyrian held Jaune tightly, not even having to possess Grimm aspects himself to know that his beloved golden boy was overwrought with grief and hurt, and wanted nothing more than to put a gruesome promised end to the one who had caused it.  He contented himself with visualizing the satisfying end to Lie Ren instead, petting over Jaune's head and giving him as much comfort as he needed.

Nobody was going to be doing anything tomorrow.  That much, at least, was certain.

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait; wedding planning had me completely booked for the longest time, even though I had hoped to have this story finished before Volume 6 began.

_He woke to the feeling of hands sliding around his throat._  

_It wouldn't have been the first time, come to think of it.  But after a glorious night of debauchery with his beloved new mate, it wasn't exactly how he wanted to wake up.  Survival instinct had him clutching at the offending hands and attempting to sting the aggressor, but it took him a moment to realize that he was being pinned down with a heavy knee near the aculeus to keep it from stinging._

_His eyes snapped open, darting every which way before focusing on the face above him._

_What struck him first were the eyes; blazing, glowing red with heat and animalistic intent._

_The eyes of a Grimm._

* * *

Tyrian blinked awake, a shivering thrill still tingling over his spine at the tail end of the dream he'd been having.  He took a moment to fully wake up and take in his surroundings, stretching out slowly as he normally did.  

It was fully morning albeit overcast with the threat of rain, yet the house was completely silent.  None of the others were training or up for breakfast, nothing.  Jaune was asleep next to him, curled up under the blankets with his brow twitching in his sleep from troubled dreams, no doubt.  The sight was enough to douse Tyrian's post-dream happiness at the reminder of just why Jaune was in such a state, and the old familiar tug for him to seek and destroy the source of his ire was almost overwhelming.

Almost.

He sat on his heels to simply observe his beloved godling for a spell, hands clasped and pressed to his mouth contemplatively as his tail swayed quietly behind him.  He HAD been observant lately, and not just of Jaune but also of himself.  It was sentient nature to question one's self as far as pondering why someone wants something, why they do what they do, and what inspires them in the first place.

For so long, longer than he could even remember, Salem had been his everything.  His reason to fight, to kill, to BREATHE.  He had loved her like he never thought himself capable of loving before, in awe at her power and authority.  But there had been something MISSING that he hadn't been completely aware of until Jaune.  In the beginning, he truly had been in wanting of a mate like himself, but also more importantly a close companion.  Cinder had Emerald and Mercury and Watts had a team of informants and his machines and Hazel...well, Hazel was more of a loner and for good reason.  Tyrian never had anyone...anyone willing to stay, anyway.  So he had been determined to have someone for himself, even if it meant taking extreme measures.

Tyrian knew what Grimm ichor was capable of, and what it could do to those who came in contact with it.  But he also knew that those with high enough aura reserves could withstand the changes that the ichor would incur.  It was a gamble either way, however, and only luck and sheer willpower had Jaune pull through alive in the end when the boy forcefully activated his Semblance.

That should have been that.  Tyrian had his mate, his partner, and it should have been a closing of one lonely chapter of his life to becoming enriched in his service to Salem.  His near-death experience under Jaune's hands changed that.

 * * *

_Not even the reddish eyes his Lady had; pure Grimm-like eyes stared down at him from a human face, unlike anything he had ever seen before.  The inhuman quality was sublime on Salem, but on Jaune....by the gods it was..._

_"...beautiful..."_

_He reached up, touching Jaune's face reverently despite the lack of oxygen and the crushing weight on his throat, too overcome to care.  It was like seeing something new and divine on a deeper level even Salem couldn't attain, and even that blasphemous thought couldn't deter him from worshiping the creature above him._

_As soon as he had touched the hellish eidolon, however, the hellfire eyes slowly faded into purest sky blue and mindless carnage likewise turned to dawning realization.  In an instant the crushing force on his throat was released and Jaune's face left his view, giving him a moment to come back to reality and breathe again before sitting up._

_Jaune was pressed back against the wall, horrified clarity swimming in his tear-filled eyes and hands pressed against his mouth.  He took his hands from his mouth and stared at them like he couldn't believe what he had almost done with them, his new tail curling and twitching on reflex to his side.  His irises were quivering as he looked at it, the entirety of the past hours coming crashing into him all at once.  
_

_The screams that echoed through the stone walls were comparable to the ones back in the chamber he was changed within.  He clutched at his hair, screaming himself hoarse with his knees tucked to his face and tail thrashing about and dripping black venom all over the sheets.  As Tyrian observed silently, he couldn't help but notice with a small thrill that it wasn't just horror that the screams conveyed._

_Tyrian heard rage._

_Tyrian FELT rage, ethereally AND physically, seeing a black wisp of Grimm's exudation in human form that he had only ever seen on Salem.  That alone was beautiful to behold, but Tyrian saw MORE.  He saw that dark godly aura coming from a golden-haired demigod of a boy WITH a scorpion tail.  The additional attributes were doing it for Tyrian in a way Salem just could not.  
_

_With no regard for the potentially lethal tail within stabbing distance, Tyrian crawled over to Jaune's rage-shaken form and gently took the boy's hands in his own, using his fingers to unclench Jaune's from his hair.  His touch seemed to snap Jaune out of his screaming fit, though the gold-tipped tail was curled and poised to sting on reflex; Tyrian paid it no heed, lacing his fingers with Jaune's and resting his forehead against the younger's sweat-soaked hair._

_"Shhh," he soothed, smiling softly.  "It's alright, my golden boy.  Everything's alright."_

_He could feel the golden stinger press to his side but not quite pierce, the whole tail quivering with indecision.  Tyrian was not afraid either way.  Many times he had been under the hand of his Lady with the threat of death hanging over him but his life or lack thereof was not his decision._

_He felt the very same way now about his imminent mortality at this moment; completely at the mercy of a greater life form and accepting it graciously._

_Tyrian continued to quietly soothe Jaune's panic, humming softly as his tail swayed hypnotically behind him in time as slowly but surely, Jaune stopped screaming and ebbed the panicked breathing down to something resembling calm, though the violent hum of his aura proved otherwise.  It seemed like hours before Tyrian at last felt the stinger against his side slip away, the boy's tail settling curled on the sheets next to them._

_Jaune lifted his head, prompting Tyrian to lean back slightly and see twin streaks of translucent black tears staining the younger's face, eyes raw red from the crying but irises still soft blue and hardened but weary.  Tyrian felt a mild twinge, having been thrilled at seeing Jaune's crying in human form, but now in this new beautifully monstrous form, it seemed so very wrong.  He didn't like it one bit, and he didn't want to see it again._

_"No more tears, my beautiful boy," he purred, thumbing the tear stains away from Jaune's face.  "You are too great for that."_

_Jaune looked away, an almost tangible heaviness on his shoulders slumping on him.  He was silent for several long moments before he spoke.  "...why did you do this to me...?"  It didn't sound accusational or demanding, simply a question of why, like 'why must it rain today'.  An innocent question that Tyrian was more than happy to answer._

_"Because," he said, running his fingers through Jaune's hair, looking on with interest at the pitch black half-inch of black that melded seamlessly into the gold, "I wanted someone like myself.  There is no one left like me...all destroyed like insects."  It was a simple statement of fact with a sprinkling of bitterness over it as he pressed Jaune's head to his shoulder, carding his fingers through the locks lightly.  "It takes such power and strength to pull through a dosing of Grimm ichor, and I knew you would be the one.  Gloriously golden hair, beautiful face, a reservoir of unimaginable power and aura...you're everything I could want."_

_Jaune remained silent for a moment as though weighing the words.  "...you know I won't just abandon my friends," he stated.  "I refuse to."  He felt Tyrian's arms tighten around him slightly._

_"I won't let you go," Tyrian replied, determined finality in his tone.  " **I** refuse to."_

_"Then come with me," Jaune found himself saying, hesitating before going along that vein.  "Stay with me.  I won't let my friends die, especially Ruby."  His hands clenched tightly, the tip of his tail thrashing.  "Not by HER.  I'll kill her first."_

_Tyrian felt a shiver from his neck to his tail from the bloodthirsty tone at mentioning Cinder.  Not very fond of the prideful brat, he had been amused beyond words at the state she had come back in after the fall of Beacon after her high talk of power.  And in all honesty, he couldn't care less if she got herself killed; a pretentious egotist like herself didn't even serve Salem out of respect but rather for power.  And those sorts never lasted long._

_Even fewer, on another hand, were those who were willing to WANT to be around him._

_Tyrian could feel the proverbial scale weigh his options carefully.  Pros and cons were heavy on both sides of the issue, that much was for sure, and for once in his many years among Salem's faction, the answer was not entirely clear to him._

_And yet he felt more fulfilled and happy than he ever had in his life._

_All because of Jaune._

 * * *

It was all because of Jaune.

The beautiful golding who had shifted almost every paradigm he had, changed every alliance, and made him feel things he never thought he possibly could again, starting primarily with compassion.  Not so long ago Tyrian knew, and was happy being, divided into three simple parts: reverent for his goddess, bloodthirstily gleeful in his kills, and despairing at failure.  

And now he was simply happy, in most cases.  A quiet sort of happiness that came from sitting among acquaintances, sharing tea and coffee, advising the younger ones in battle prowess.  

Compassionate, seeing how Jaune wanted to protect everyone he considered his own, including Emerald and Mercury, and how he wound up wanting to protect them too and not just for Jaune's sake.  

Angry on another's behalf, and not for his personal theistic reasons.  Not just for Jaune, but for Emerald and Mercury and even for the little avatar Oscar sometimes.

Just small pieces that he felt coming together since choosing to align himself with Jaune, pieces he now saw had been stripped from him, to keep him from becoming whole.  Jaune did not want a zealot, he wanted a partner.  

He wanted what Tyrian originally did, despite being a greater life form than them all.  Wanting to remain in a perfect balance between human and Grimm and trusting Tyrian to be that buffer between the two.  And all he asked in return was Tyrian's companionship and support (and to tone down antagonizing the others, though Tyrian was allowed some leeway in that).  

Tyrian couldn't help but recall a time when he would mindlessly dispatch someone who insulted the object of his worship, when his own blind reverence would overwhelm all else.  He knew, though, that putting harm on Lie Ren would hurt Jaune more than anything.  If and when the call was made, however...Tyrian would not hesitate a moment.

He reached over and carded his fingers lightly through Jaune's hair, seeing some of the tension the younger had coiled up release slightly, to his relief.  He stood up without disturbing the nest and silently slipped out of the room toward the kitchen to make some tea that would calm any leftover anxiety from the hours before, glancing into any open rooms as he passed.  

Yang and Ruby shared one of the beds, Ruby looking about as bad as Jaune even in her sleep while Yang looked like she had her eyes closed for show and not for purpose.  Nora was cocooned in several blankets at the foot of the empty bed.  Past the bedrooms was the living room, where Weiss and Emerald had finally succumbed to exhaustion on the couch, mostly-empty coffee cups on the table in front of them.  Outside was Mercury, who was slumped against the sliding glass door asleep; Tyrian knew the boy didn't want to be in a house that was razed with confrontation and respected that.  He would need to wake up soon though, or be caught in that coming rain.

His move to the kitchen was halted when he saw Ren already inside, holding a teapot that had just finished heating and had made a move to pour it into a cup when the Faunus walked in.  There was an almost tangible feel of hostility enough so Tyrian was certain a Grimm could pick up on it outside of Mistral, and while he positively ached to go through with his promise of evisceration, he stayed his hand.

But he would not still his tongue.

Tyrian walked in, tail remaining curled around his waist to resist the urge to misuse it, and fetched the canister that held his own blend of tea for stilled nerves and added it to one of the spare cups, keeping his eyes off of Ren; the less he saw, the more control he'd have over the situation.  "Why do you antagonize him so?" he asked evenly, keeping his voice down to Weiss and Emerald wouldn't be disturbed in the living room. 

Ren's entire body was tense, even moreso since he had neglected to holster his weapons before getting the tea.  Tyrian's question made his already tense muscles almost cold as ice, and he had to catch himself before giving his usual response of teammate camaraderie, having already demonstrated how badly he had screwed up in that aspect just hours before.  He too forced himself to not look at Tyrian, less for the desire to not see the Faunus giving him death glares and more for not wanting to look at whom he had lost his team leader for.

"...you had no right," he replied, keeping his voice even through use of his Semblance.  "None at all."

"To you, perhaps."  Tyrian filled the cup with water and took out a small fire dust crystal from his pocket, using the natural resource to heat the cup slowly.  "While I can admire your dedication toward him, I don't think I can stress enough that what he does not wish to tell you is truly none of your business."  The soporific aroma of the tea began to make itself known as it heated.  "We discussed many things at great length, Lie Ren, but you know he is not obligated to tell you everything.  He has told you enough."

He finished heating the cup and put the crystal in a fireproof snuffbox to store for later.  "He is providing you a great service, keeping you from my wrath.  But you should be thanking ME for MY service as well."  He glanced at Ren from the corner of his eye, seeing hackles raise in the boy.  "Do you really think he would be able to hold back his Grimm half on his own, especially when everyone else around him treats him like a monster?  It's not just his feelings you are hurting, Lie Ren, and trust me when I say if it were not for me, you would have been utterly DEVOURED by now."

He took a step closer, his eyes glinting like cold flecks of gold.  "His Grimm half screams and claws like a beast every moment he feels anything less than human, demanding to be let out to become a TRUE Grimm Magnificum.  And what would that be like, hmm?  Are you so curious to find out that you would continue to alienate him, push him to that abyss until it grabs him and the beautiful golden Jaune Arc is forever lost to his inner annihilation?"

"NO!" Ren snapped, his face having gone dangerously pale.  He stepped back, holding his arms to him tightly as though to shield himself.  "...no.  He can't-"

"And he won't," Tyrian replied, tossing his braid over his shoulder.  "As long as I am here.  Because your ship has CLEARLY sailed now that you've let your stance on the situation be known."  He picked up the cup, regarding Ren coldly.  "I have done unspeakable things without a regret in the world, Lie Ren.  But at least I can honestly say I've never broken someone's heart."  He turned and walked out of the kitchen, ignoring Weiss and Emerald who had awoken and were tensely eavesdropping simply out of regard for their own safety should it need be.

Qrow peered down from the loft, having heard every word and was glad Oscar was still asleep to avoid more of the nerve-wracking drama.  He sighed when he heard the door to the scorpions' room shut and sat back rubbing his eyes and wishing like mad for a drink, and was snapped out of his stupor when his scroll buzzed in its pocket.  He took it out and looked at the caller ID.

Leo. 

His jaw twitched, debating throwing the scroll across the room to let it shatter and be done with that mess entirely, but he still had a job to do.  He answered it, not noticing Oscar waking up.  "Yeah?" he said, keeping his voice neutral as he listened.  "....okay.....yeah, we'll be there."  His entire visage hardened as he fought to keep his voice steady and unassuming as he disconnected the call and let the scroll drop to the floor, rubbing his face hard.

"....who was it?"

Qrow looked up and saw Oscar staring at him in a way that let him know Ozpin had taken the reins, sighing heavily.  "It was Leo," he replied distastefully.  "He said he had a 'breakthrough' with the council...wants us to meet up with him tomorrow night."

Ozpin frowned, folding his hands in front of his mouth contemplatively.  "...I see," he said, eyes narrowing.  "We cannot simply refuse to go, when you so vehemently demanded his help...but we also cannot go in blindly.  Not with all of this..."  He gestured helplessly, not even having a proper adjective with the mess going on in the house.

"All of this bullshit.  We're not in school anymore, Oz, you can say it."  Qrow sat back hard, looking dead-to-the-world tired.  "...tomorrow night...gods, I don't think the kids are gonna be up for that..."

"Then let them sleep today and tonight," Ozpin said.  "Cool their tempers, quiet their thoughts, and tomorrow morning we'll settle on a plan of events."  He mirrored Qrow's tired position.  "I know Oscar was more than happy to let me take over and deal with this rather than himself when he first woke up."  He glanced toward the stairwell.  "...let's not even bother the children with anything today.  They need their rest."

"They're not the only ones."  Qrow rubbed his eyes tiredly and hesitated for a moment before lying back down on his bed pallet, having no alcohol to drink and no desire to go downstairs for coffee.  It left only sleep to ease this stress migraine.  Ozpin observed for a brief moment before following suit, staying numbly awake to give Oscar a bit more rest.

* * *

  

Tyrian slipped into the room and shut the door silently behind him, kneeling beside Jaune and brushing the golden locks from the boy's sleep-hazed eyes.  "Drink this," he said, setting the cup down in front of him, watching to make sure Jaune actually did so and was pleased when Jaune sat up and took a sip.  After a few moments of silence, Jaune spoke.

"...what happened in the kitchen?"

The Faunus huffed, glancing out the window.  "He's unharmed, dearest," he assured.  "I only reiterated your points and made sure to let him know just how...delicate your balance is." 

Jaune nodded slowly, sipping the tea again.  "...alright," he said.  A gentle patter of rain fell against the window, easing his nerves about as much as the tea did, and let out a weary sigh as he leaned against Tyrian's shoulder.  "...I'm so tired."

Tyrian reached down and took Jaune's hand, squeezing it.  "Then sleep more," he said.  "The others are doing the same.  Nobody is doing anything today."  He deftly heard the sliding glass door open and close, sure that Mercury finally made his way inside.  He felt Jaune's head nod and then the boy go still.  He remained where he was, not willing to move and disturb Jaune, even if it meant staying like this all day. 

Not that he minded in the least.

 


	17. Chapter 17

Absolutely nobody was prepared to meet with Lionheart, though everybody HAD gotten the extra rest that had been allowed to them.

When Ozpin called everyone in - EVERYONE - to tell them of the upcoming meeting, it was pretty much Qrow having coffee and tea immediately on hand that was sure to be the only reason nobody completely lost whatever nerve-shot sanity they had left.

"It's a trap, of COURSE it's a trap," Mercury muttered, rubbing his temple.  "I'm willing to bet my legs either Hazel or Watts is going to be there too."  Emerald gave him a worried look before focusing on her coffee to ground her nerves.  Next to her, Jaune and Tyrian shared a silent look before Tyrian spoke.

"Wattsy is in Atlas at the moment, no doubt attempting to break through Atlesian coding without the codekeepers noticing," he said, tenting his fingertips contemplatively.  "Hazel is currently neck-deep in wrangling the White Fang together to bring them under Salem's banner...but considering the White Fang is stationed on this continent, it IS possible he's the one brought in as extra muscle support."  He took a gander around the room.  "...not that we could lay much of a hand on him in the long run."

Next to him, Qrow swore he saw Ozpin shudder a little.  

"So what do we do then?" Yang demanded weakly.  "Just show up and hope for the best?"

"That looks to be the plan," Mercury said, sitting back with a frown.  "...so...what do we even do?"

Silence.

Ruby tightened her jaw, a visual summoning of courage bubbling up to the best of her ability.  "...we go and we take Lionheart down," she said firmly.  "Even if it's just him...it's one less game piece for Salem to use."  She looked at Tyrian.  "If you really don't think we can stand a chance against this Hazel, then why risk it if we don't have to?  He doesn't know about you, or Jaune or Emerald and Mercury...not even Weiss and Yang.  We already have an advantage."

"I like the way you think, little flower," Tyrian said with a grin, eliciting a scowl from Qrow.  "Take out the pawn and leave the rook for another day.  Little to no harm on our end."

"You say that like it'll be easy," Qrow grumbled.  "Leo's a treacherous coward, but he's not stupid.  If we go in for an ambush, he won't have just one trap set.  He has a wild card, and we don't know what it is."

"That's true," Ruby said, wilting slightly.  She wrung her hands together.  "...so what do we do?"

Another moment of silence.

This time, Nora spoke.  "If...Emerald can make it so Lionheart can't see the bulk of us, would that help?" she put in.  "I mean, we can play off Weiss and Yang, they're Ruby's team...but if he's really seen Tyrian and if Jaune doesn't want to bring attention to himself, then Emerald could make it so he didn't see them, right?"

"Not a bad idea," Weiss said.  "It DOES give the advantage back on equal footing.  We don't know what he's got in store, but at the same time he doesn't know how many of US there are."

Emerald pinkened under the attention brought to her, but had to nod assent.  "I can do that easily," she said.  "But your group will have to go in first with me in the middle and the rest behind, so he doesn't glimpse something he shouldn't before I can use my Semblance."  

"Alright, good!" Ruby chirped a little, ever the attempt to be the optimist.  "We can do this.  We just need a solid plan."

"And a step back to think for a minute," Mercury said, holding a hand up.  "Before all of this happened, the next step we would have taken was to find the Spring Maiden and get her to open the Vault.  So if that's going to be a side-story to this case, then that would mean Watts or someone else found her and is planning on taking her to the Vault TONIGHT.  So why would Lionheart invite us right in to all that, unless he's planning on taking out two or three birds with one stone."

Tyrian's eyes narrowed slightly.  "...funny you should mention birds, quicksilver," he murmured, glancing at Qrow.  "...doesn't your sister have the same ability, and didn't you think the Spring Maiden was with her?"

Qrow's jaw dropped like all those pieces literally hit him in the head.  "Shit," he muttered, burying his face in his hands.  "Shit...shit...SHIT..."  He sat up straight, looking pissed enough to set Mercury on edge.  "I don't think she would, but she WOULD, if it meant Salem found the tribe!"

Yang scowled, clenching her natural hand to her shaking metal one.  "And after all that talk of not wanting to get mixed up in all of it," she hissed, red sifting into her irises as her eyes dampened slightly.  "I don't believe this."

Jaune ran a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh.  "So to recap," he stated, "Lionheart is inviting who the thinks is Qrow and three students into an ambush, most likely due to intervention from Raven to get them out of the way so the Spring Maiden that's with Raven can go into the Vault, get the Relic, and with any luck on their part, silence a big part of Salem's problems in one blow for good.  That sound about right?"

"Unfortunately so," Ozpin said, clenching his hands into his cane.  "No doubt Raven is hoping Salem will leave her be for good..."  His brow furrowed.  "...though more realistically, Raven will not willingly WORK with Salem, but simply play her hand in getting a better deal."

"Like taking the Relic for herself," Jaune finished.  "So it's a three-way now."

"It still doesn't change the plan that much," Tyrian said with a shrug.  "We can still provide an illusion-based ambush of our own, even if we must tweak it."  He smiled.  "With a couple of us doing reconnaissance outside of the school while the others go in, we provide yet another advantage."

"So who would that be?" Weiss asked.  "And who's to say Lionheart won't do the same?"

"It's still worth a try," Ruby reasoned.  "It's better than doing nothing at all, right?  And any advantage we have, we can use."  She looked around the room.  "Tyrian and Mercury can be the recon support outside.  Emerald can shield herself and Jaune when we go in as backup.  If Raven is really there, it'll still cause confusion since she won't know who Jaune or Emerald are."  She looked around at everyone, putting a supportive hand on Yang's shoulder.  "We can make this work."

There were looks of doubt and anxiety all around, but nobody said otherwise to Ruby's proclamation.  Ozpin gave everyone a look too before sighing.

"As I said before," he said, "there is no shame in abstaining, only in retreat.  If this truly is as bad as we all think it is, I will not put blame on anyone who doesn't wish to endanger their lives over this.  When all is said and done, delaying or preventing the retrieval of the Relic is the top priority."  His jaw tightened.  "...even if Haven should fall from it."

He deftly noticed a glint of respect in Tyrian's eyes, though he tried to ignore it.  "...Emerald.  Mercury."  Pause.  "...and you as well, Jaune.  You children have the least to lose from this, especially considering what you have already experienced.  However..."  His hands tightened around his cane again.  "...I do speak for everyone else when I say that should you go with Ruby's plans and then decide in the middle to make a move regarding the opposition...you will be dealt with as such.  In this crucial time, there is no room for mercy."

Emerald stared at the floor, swallowing hard as Mercury's jaw tightened and body language clammed up.  Jaune looked relatively unfazed at the familiar song-and-dance and Tyrian's eyes flickered with a hint of purple, though he said nothing.

The room simmered in the ultimatum for several long moments before Jaune stood up.  

"...I already said I would not abandon my team," he said lowly, eyes narrowed.  "And despite everything, I still mean that.  But if the other half of my team doesn't want to fight, then I won't either."  Emerald and Mercury both looked up at him, seeing the dead serious expression on his face.  "I'll fight if I have to.  I'll KILL if I have to.  But I won't let pieces of my team be scattered without protection."

Nobody really said anything for that, though Ren obviously had much to think as was plainly shown on his face.  Tyrian gave Jaune a contemplative look before speaking up.

"If that be the case, dear," he stated, his expression completely serious, "should Emerald and Mercury choose to abstain, I will take them to safety and you remain with the others to fight."

Ren's expression would have made almost everyone laugh had the situation be less serious.  Even Jaune looked surprised at the offer, and certainly Emerald and Mercury did, though they were far from the only ones.  Nobody seemed to have a response to that until Emerald shook her head.

"No," she said, clenching her hands into her pant legs, her eyes damp.  "...I'll do it.  I'll do my part to stop the stupid attack, save the stupid Relic, and stay with the stupid team...!"  Her breath hitched as tears ran down her face, reaching up and rubbing the heels of her hands to her eyes.  Weiss looked on in complete understanding, knowing that Emerald didn't want to just LEAVE, in spite of everything else.  She hesitated before walking over and putting a hand on Emerald's shoulder.

"...in lieu of everything that's happened with everyone," she said quietly, "there's hardly any distinct 'team' anymore.  This is a group now, one big team with one big objective...something bigger than all of us.  So...things like 'team of four' or 'school partners' just seems...superfluous now.  And I know me and Yang haven't been here very long for all of this, but we're all in the know for something big, and dangerous, and just...bad."  She gave Emerald a small smile.  "I felt that way after Beacon, and I know that just having one person there for you makes all the difference, let alone this whole group being that safety net."

Emerald gave her a tiny thankful smile before rubbing her face dry, looking somewhat embarrassed at that public moment of weakness.  Next to her, Mercury let out a sigh.

"Fuckit, I'm in too," he said, crossing his arms and sitting up straight.  "I fight, I'm on Salem's shit list.  I run, I'm on Salem's shit list.  If I'm gonna be on a shit list, I want to DESERVE to be on one." 

Jaune gave him a thankful look before giving the room a sweeping glance.  "So we're clear on the plan, then?" he asked them.  "Tyrian and Mercury, outside support.  Emerald provides cover for herself and me.  Qrow keeps Lionheart talking until we get a sign to go."

"Best plan we have," Yang said, her metal hand flexing like she wanted to punch something with it.  "I'm game."  Everyone else nodded assent to some degree, even Ren.

Qrow sighed and nodded, his expression resolute.  "Then it's set," he said.  "We head out in four hours.  Rest up, gear up, make sure you're READY for this."  He stood up.  "I'm going to grab some more dust.  Any requests?"

Weiss put in a request for some ice cartridges and Nora for electricity, and Qrow headed for the door.

"Air," came Mercury's voice, the boy looking like he was almost afraid of asking Qrow for something.  "...I need air dust.  I'm almost out."  He looked in Qrow's general direction but not AT him, everyone noticed.  Qrow was quiet for a moment before nodding. 

"...sure," he said, glancing at Mercury's boots.  "....size four cartridges, right?"  He saw Mercury give the smallest hint of a nod.  "Gotcha.  I'll be back."  He pocketed his scroll with the requests and walked out of the house.

Emerald gave him a knowing look and squeezed his arm slightly before going to get something to eat in the kitchen, Weiss following for some tea.  Ruby smiled after them, feeling a small thrill of happiness that some scraps were coming together in this quit-patch of a group, and saw Jaune slip out the back door in silence. 

After making sure everyone else was okay, she followed quietly and saw him take the stair path off the back lanai to a small patch of undeveloped land with a small clearing made out.  She stayed hidden and watched as he reached into his pocket and took out his scroll, giving it a long thoughtful look before tapping it over, making a video screen pop and play.

_**"Alright Jaune, just like we practiced.  Follow these instructions."** _

Ruby's heart sank as she heard Pyrrha's voice, seeing Jaune unsheathe his sword and snap his shield into place.

_**"Shield up."** _

His shield was raised just under eye-level, his arm steady.

_**"Keep your grip tight."** _

Ruby almost heard his glove's leather creak as his hand clenched around the sword's hilt.

_**"Don't forget to keep your front foot forward."** _

Already, Jaune's stance was perfect for either an offensive or defensive first move.

_**"Ready?  Go."** _

Jaune stabbed forward past the shield's defense.

_**"Again."** _

Without shifting back, Jaune seamlessly melded the front strike into a strong sweeping slice.

_**"And again."** _

Jaune's wrist turned to make the end glide of the slice curl up into an arcing inward slice, all without breaking hold of his shield's defense...or without a sweat, Ruby noticed.

_**"Now, assuming you aren't cheating, we can take a break."** _

Jaune didn't break, per se, but Ruby saw him shift out of his stance and lower his weapons. 

_**"I know this can be frustrating...and I know it can seem like so much effort to progress such a small amount, but...I want you to know that I'm PROUD of you.  I've never met someone so determined to better themself.  You've improved so much since we started training, and I know this is just the beginning."** _

Ruby saw Jaune's jaw twitch hard, feeling her heart turn harder as she watched the hardness in his eyes begin to melt.

_**"Jaune....I........I......I want you to know, that I'm just happy to be a part of your life.  I'll always be here for you, Jaune."** _

The video ended, and Jaune stood there silently, making no move to restart it.  Ruby had a realization that this was probably one of the few times he'd rewatched the video since before they had been taken.

A sudden presence next to her made her look up and see Tyrian standing beside her, looking at Jaune quietly.  His expression was unreadable, and Ruby didn't know if she should be worried or not.  Without acknowledging her, the Faunus walked into the clearing and over to the scroll, reaching down and pressing the rewind button before looking at Jaune.

_**"Alright Jaune, just like we practiced.  Follow these instructions.  Shield up."** _

"Tail unfurled and arced over your head," Tyrian added.

_**"Keep your grip tight."** _

"Keep the stinger poised back."

_**"Don't forget to keep your front foot forward."** _

"Shift the muscle in the base to strike where you need."

**_"Ready?  Go."_ **

Ruby quietly stood back, wringing her hands as she watched Jaune integrate Pyrrha's lessons with Tyrian's.  She didn't know what to make of it, especially after overhearing Jaune and Ren's fight two nights ago regarding both Tyrian and Pyrrha in Jaune's case.  She didn't know if there was a modicum of jealousy, or a tug-of-war with feelings, but just what she was witnessing, there was a balance here.  A balance Jaune needed.

Jaune finished a round of combined weapon-and-tail strikes, lowering both as Pyrrha's playful voice rang out again insisting he could take a break.  He listened to her praise, the sincerity in her voice and encouragement in her eyes, knowing for the thousandth time what she truly had intended to say.  And for the thousandth and first time, he knew that there might have been a chance in another world, possibly with enough time...

He thought about what she would think of him now, a part-Grimm monstrosity constantly teetering on the edge of humanity and annihilation.  His natural tendency toward self-flagellation and internalized loathing whispered that she would be disgusted, that she would be hunting his kind off the face of the planet.

But Jaune truly knew better.  Pyrrha would have stood by him until the end, to the moment he would have succumbed to the Grimm and there would be literally no other choice.  She would have been his rock, as she always had been.

As Tyrian was now.

It was bordering on sacrilege to even compare Tyrian to Pyrrha, but the Faunus was the other side of the coin that was Jaune's life.  Tyrian still supported him, taught him what he needed to know, but unlike Pyrrha, made his feelings VERY known even to the chagrin of everyone else.

The perfect metaphorical yingyang that was Jaune's life.

He felt Tyrian grip his shoulder, looking up and seeing the Faunus staring at him with an expression that conveyed nothing but worry and a silent question of Jaune's state.  Jaune sighed and closed his eyes, nodding.  "...I'm alright," he said.

"Are you?"

Jaune had to hesitate before nodding again.  ".....as well as I have to be to do this," he said.  Tyrian nodded back, fetching the scroll and looking down at the late Pyrrha Nikos before handing it to Jaune.

"You are correct, my golden boy," Tyrian said.  "Mourning cannot be done in the middle of a fight.  You will be given all the time you need after." 

Jaune nodded, looking at Pyrrha's image before turning the video.  "....I just had to..."

"Remind yourself of your reason to fight," Tyrian finished.  "I know."  He walked past Jaune, running his fingers through the boy's golden locks.  "I do that every day."  He smiled and headed back to the house.  Jaune didn't want to look after, feeling somewhat silly at how hot his cheeks felt, but quickly composed himself and pocketed his scroll before compacting the shield and sheathing the sword into it. 

He turned to the house's direction and paused when he saw Ruby half-looking from behind a tree, giving him a guilty smile and a little wave.  "...do you want to get some lunch?" she asked softly.  "...we can't fight on an empty stomach."

Jaune gave her a half-grin, curling his tail back around his waist.  "...as long as it's not a half metric ton of noodles," he replied.  Ruby smothered a snort and walked back to the house with him, them both trying not to think about it possibly being the last bit of mirth they had left to give before later that evening.


	18. Chapter 18

The walk to Haven's foyer was solemn and a fight to not LOOK like they were going into a fight.  All in all, it was a balance of trust toward Tyrian and Mercury to keep whatever may be out of sight clear for the others as they kept their eyes forward and resolve sighted toward what they had to do.

While not in sight, Jaune had an earpiece that served as the connection to Tyrian and Emerald had one to Mercury, seeing as they wouldn't be in Lionheart's sights for the interim.  Nevertheless, they kept silent while the two coverts gave brief, quiet updates while Qrow made headway into the school. 

The double doors opened at Qrow's push, and Ruby made sure she and Oscar were right behind with Weiss, Yang, Nora and Ren tailing, making just enough of a barrier to hide Jaune and Emerald while still giving Emerald a quick door of opportunity to see Lionheart before he saw them.  As planned, Emerald quickly honed in on the headmaster and activated her Semblance, masking herself and Jaune from view with Lionheart none the wiser.

Jaune was given a nod from Emerald, and immediately began looking around the large, empty foyer, feeling horribly exposed despite Emerald's cover and the apparent solitude sans Lionheart's presence.  When first glance came up with nothing, he turned his attention to Lionheart, seeing the man for the first time as he spoke.

"Why hello," the headmaster greeted warmly, but Jaune could almost taste the man's nerves from the short distance away.  "Thank you for...coming..."  He trailed off, eyes passing right over Jaune and Emerald and seeing Weiss, Yang, and Oscar.  "There...seems to be more of you than last time..."

Qrow made a show of shrugging and holding his hands out nonconfrontationally.  "Eh, you know what they say, 'the more, the merrier," he replied.  "So what's going on with the council?"  He seemed to be ignored for the moment as Lionheart's eyes became sharper, and Jaune could taste a spike in wariness.

"Why...did you bring your weapons...?" Lionheart asked, non-too-subtly tucking his arms behind his back to hide his own, which everyone had already seen by this point. 

Jaune's eyes narrowed, his hand trailing slowly to the handle of his sword beneath his cloak as Qrow feigned confusion.

"What?  Leo.  We're Huntsmen."  Out of the corner of Qrow's eye, he saw Yang hone in on something.  "Are you okay?"

Jaune looked to Yang and followed her eyeline to what she was looking at, absently hearing Lionheart give a weak excuse concerning coffee.

A bird. A corvid almost identical to Qrow's own avian form.

Qrow's response to Lionheart was muddled in Jaune's head as his own realization was confirmed by Yang, “...Mom?”

There was hardly a beat of warning before Qrow had Harbinger in hand, aimed, and fired in the Raven's direction, the shot missing by a tail feather as the corvid swooped away and over to Lionheart, shifting into her human form in an instant before them.

“Raven...” Ruby murmured under her breath, more for a confirmation for herself than anyone else.

Jaune's earpiece flicked with static, Tyrian's voice coming through. _“Company has come out of the woodworks.”_ He sounded neither surprised or worried. _“Hazel was indeed sent...along with the White Fang.”_ There was a beat of pause. _“They seem to be setting charges along the CCT.”_

He swore under his breath, glancing at Emerald whose slightly paled visage told him Mercury had informed her of the same thing, giving her a reassuring look signaling that she was to keep the illusion up for Lionheart as long as possible.

"If you're going to shoot me, shoot me," Raven said after removing her helmet, glaring down at Qrow.  "That was insulting."

Qrow's hands clenched around his sword, glowering back.  "I knew it," he hissed.  "What are you DOING here?!"  He kept his weapon raised as Raven began walking down the steps.

"I could ask YOU the same thing," she replied, keeping her eye on him.  "You've been scheming, little brother.  Planning to attack your own sister..."  She shook her head in mock sadness. 

Qrow's hardened eyes shifted between her and Lionheart with equal venom for both.  "What have you DONE?" he demanded, more for them both than for any one in particular.  Lionheart stammered for a reply when Raven cut him off.

"Leo did what any sane person would in his position," she said, standing before them with a hand resting on her sword handle.  "He looked at all of the information he had in front of him, assessed the situation, and he made a choice."  Her eyes swept the group, landing on Yang.  "And it seems YOU all have too."

Yang's jaw tightened, but she didn't dare move.  Next to her, Qrow lowered his weapon in a gesture of placating his sister, though his stance shifted to a slightly more defensive one.

"YOU have the Spring Maiden," he stated.

"I do."

"Then hand her over, and let's work TOGETHER!  We can beat Salem!"

"ALL that time spying for Ozpin, and you STILL have no idea what you're dealing with!" Raven shot back, a small glint of fear in her eye.  "There IS no beating Salem!"

"You're wrong."

Everyone looked at Ruby, who stepped forward despite Weiss hissing for her to not move, her eyes hard and determined, the sort of look, Raven realized, that came from cold, hardened experience.  "We've done things...SEEN things...that most people would call IMPOSSIBLE.  And I know that the only reason we were able to get through it at all was because we didn't go through it alone!"  Recalling that Jaune needed to be hidden still from Lionheart, she resisted looking back at the fellow leader.  "We had people to teach us...to help us..."  Her voice trembled despite its strength, a thin glaze of remembrance for her time from Salem's palace to just today running through her mind.

“We had each other. All of us. So work WITH us.” She extended her hand to Raven, giving her a desperate but welcoming look that almost thawed that hardness. “At least I know we have a better chance if we try TOGETHER. Please.”

There was a beat of silence between everyone in the room as Raven's eyes visibly ran the gamut of painful memory to near-acceptance to a steely hardening of her own heart. “You sound just like your mother,” she said.

In one quick move, she drew her sword and slashed it into the air beside her, a dark red portal opening midair and not even a second later a fireball hurling out and blasting into Ruby, sending her sprawling into Emerald.

Lionheart barely had time to react to two new people suddenly appearing into view when someone walked out of the portal that had been created.

Weiss was helping Emerald up while Yang tended to Ruby, both looking up when they felt a heavy blanket of dread in the air. They first looked Emerald, who was spaced out and breathing like she was about to have a panic attack, then to Jaune, whose aura was visibly tainted with black as he stared ahead, his eyes red and face contorted in rage.

Following his eyeline showed the source of his rage.

She didn't even look human anymore. Blackened Grimm appendages swayed by her sides as she walked into the room, a clink of glass on stone floor with each step. Her face was corpse-pale, showing visible black veins underneath the skin. The left side of her face looked like it had been burnt and blackened down until the skin was taut over her skull, a hellish red eyeball set into the sunken eye socket.

And despite all of that, everyone knew who it was...or who it had been, and it was only confirmed when Jaune's tail nearly shredded his cloak when it unfurled from his hips and curled tightly over his head as he shouted in an inhuman modulation,

**"͏̡C͘I̛̕N͘͠D͜E̴̕͜R!̧͠͝"̷̸**

 

 

 


	19. Chapter 19

_"Emerald, what is it?  What's going on?  Emerald!"_

Emerald couldn't respond to Mercury's worried question in her earpiece, feeling like every inch of her was being pricked with ice-cold needles as she stared at the monstrous form of her former mistress who for all intents and purposes should be dead.  The unprecedented backlash had her frozen where she sat as she was torn asunder inside between a deep-seated relief that Cinder was alive, newfound loyalty to her new team, and horror at what Salem had done to preserve her. 

Cinder seemed quite at home and comfortable in her pseudo-Grimm patchwork, looking just as confident as ever as she surveyed the room, both normal and Grimm eyes settling on Emerald.  "So you've decided to ally yourself with the riffraff, Emerald?" she sneered.  "How flighty your loyalty is, and after everything I did for you."

Weiss could feel Emerald's entire body trembling, anxiety rolling off of the other girl in waves.  She steeled her jaw, tightening her hands around Emerald's arm, having seen Mercury do so many times before as a means to ground her back down.  "Don't listen to her," she hissed, giving Cinder a frozen glare despite her own soft shaking.  Her eyes flicked to the figure who stepped out behind her, recognizing her as Vernal, the Spring Maiden, and knew that it had gone from bad to worse knowing they had sided with Cinder in order to get the Relic.

The sound of the double doors opening had half of them looking back, and Qrow heard Oscar murmur 'oh no' next to him as a huge man walked in and closed the doors behind him.

"The White Fang is prepping demolition and securing the school grounds," he said, turning to them.  "No one's getting in.  And no one's getting out."  He made his way over to the group as Qrow glowered at his sister.

"Raven.  Tell me."  His hands clenched tightly.  "How long have you been with them?"  His sister remained silent, her eyes flickering with some emotion he couldn't place as Cinder stepped forward.

"Aww, don't take it personally little bird," she drawled, her Grimm appendages cricking as she walked.  "Your sister was a recent addition.  The lion, on the other hand..."  Her Grimm eye shifted between everyone present.  "Well, something tells me you've expected it."  She honed in on Jaune, who was practically seething with Grimm energy, and grinned.  "But not me, apparently."

Qrow glanced back at Jaune, feeling his gut drop at the pure homicidal expression on the boy's face and wished for perhaps the first time that Tyrian was there with them.  "Stay calm," he said, holding a hand out in Jaune's direction but speaking more to everyone, not wanting to have anything set Jaune's Grimm half off.

“Jaune...?” Nora whimpered, shifting away slightly at seeing the expression on his face, his aura putting a pit of dread into her stomach. Ren almost grabbed her and pushed her behind him when Jaune's hands grabbed his sword, sheath and all, and held it tightly as it formed the twohandler.

“How many times do I have to kill you...” Jaune snarled, his blazing red eyes looking hot enough to sear through flesh, “BEFORE YOU STAY DEAD!?”

“KID, STOP--” Qrow was almost thrown aside when Jaune bolted past him right to Cinder, who stopped his blade with a molten glass one of her own. The clang of the two swords meeting was loud and sharp enough to almost make everyone else flinch but snapped them into battle-mode, everyone grabbing and forming their own weapons.

Raven grabbed the hilt of her sword, turning to Vernal. “Take out as many of them as you can! Don't bother wasting your power, they're not worth it-” She drew her sword just in time to stop Qrow's blade.

Qrow bore down on his sword hard, more than stressed enough as it was without his sister at his immediate opposition. “Running away was one thing, but THIS?” He growled, taking a step forward, putting more weight in, the blades sparking between them. “How could you even LOOK at her and think joining them was a good idea?!”

Raven scowled, pushing back. “Sorry, brother, sometimes family disappoints you like that.” Her eyes narrowed as she strained against Qrow's further bearing.

“I don't give a fuck about your definition of 'family'!” he snarled. “Not when it's caused nothing but pain for mine!” He shoved his weight forward. “We're not family anymore!”

Oscar looked between everyone else, seeing Ren and Nora choose to hold off Hazel, Weiss stick by Emerald, and Yang standing by to shield them both from Vernal, all while Jaune and Cinder dealt blows between one another using both weapon and Grimm aspects. He was almost at his wit's end, wanting to do nothing but run away and hide and do whatever it took to shut Ozpin's voice out of his head telling him to go confront Lionheart.

_**'Oscar! You have to fight!'** _

Oscar felt he didn't HAVE to do ANYTHING except pay taxes and die by this point, but the stress outside and in had him grabbing the cane handle and rushing up the stairs, intent on taking that stress out on Lionheart, seeing that the Faunus wasn't contrite enough to stop any of it.

Lionheart didn't even have time to confront the child about being in the wrong place at the wrong time before he found himself being attacked with a familiar looking cane that he only got a good look at once he had been hit across the balcony. He definitely recognized that cane as Ozpin's.

The young avatar didn't waste time mincing words, attacking with everything Ozpin's muscle memory could handle and letting the past few weeks' worth of terror, anger, and confusion out despite Ozpin's near-shouting for him to stop and consider what he was doing and how he was doing it.

_**'Oscar, think about what you are doing-'** _

_'SHUT UP! I don't CARE what you think!'_ He dodged a fire projectile from Lionheart's weapon, rushing the headmaster. _'YOU told me fight for myself, and damn it, I'm fighting for myself, so you can just shut up and LET me fight!'_ He jumped and swung the cane hard, sending Lionheart right over the railing.

_“Emerald, for gods' sake, what the hell is happening?!”_

Emerald finally got her senses together enough to press the earpiece. “C...Cinder...” she managed to stammer. “It's Cinder, she's....oh gods, Merc....!”

“ _I'll be there when I can, there's some shit going on out here,”_ Mercury replied. _“But I can't see Tyrian, I think he's-”_

She didn't hear the rest of what Mercury said when a window crashed in and Tyrian dove through, landing a drop-kick hard on Hazel's head just before the man got a hit in on Ren.

Tyrian jumped back, his tail curled over his head defensively as he splayed his bladed arms as though shielding Ren and Nora from Hazel. “Get back to your group,” he commanded, keeping his eyes on Hazel. “This one is far too above your level.” He flicked his eyes to Jaune and Cinder, grimacing slightly. “Oh, that is NOT a good look for her.”

Hazel got to his feet, narrowing his eyes at Tyrian. “You have a lot of nerve to be here after what you've done,” he stated, cracking his neck to relieve the stiffness from Tyrian's kick. “And I've been instructed to deal with you, should we cross paths.”

Tyrian gave the taller man a mocking bow. “Well here I am,” he replied with a grin. “Though, I really wonder why. You ARE vastly outnumbered, and your operation outside has been thwarted thanks to a little Faunus girl disarming all those explosives.” His smile twitched when he saw Hazel's hands flex slightly. “So you may as well join us all in the disappointment club and leave while you can.”

Knowing full well Hazel wasn't about to leave, he was ready with his guard up when Hazel rushed forward and began putting in hits that Tyrian was happy enough to dodge; he knew one good blow from Hazel was as good as a concussion.

 

Jaune stuck primarily to the defensive, Cinder's strikes being quicker than his own and with Maiden abilities to put more fire into them.

 

**KILL**

**DESTROY**

**DEVOUR**

**KILL**

**KILL**

**KILL**

 

It took every ounce of willpower Jaune had to quell down the roaring demands of his Grimm half no matter how badly he happened to agree with it. He focused entirely on making sure the bitch didn't get a good enough hit in, searching for a weakness and -unfortunately- finding very little to work with.

Cinder was playing with him, smiling venomously as she matched blades with him and used her prehensile Grimm arms to keep just enough of a distance for Jaune to not be able to strike back. And in all honesty, it was pissing him off.

He swung hard to knock her blade away, side-stepping with his sword up. “Stop messing with me!” he hissed. Cinder laughed, her human eye glowing with the Maiden's flare of power.

“Aww, does the little Grimm want a big-boy fight?” she cooed with disgusting false sweetness, like she was speaking down to a small puppy. She grinned at the glowing rage in his eyes, retracting her arms to normal length next to her. “Well, if that's what you want...” She lifted her hand, forming a molten dagger and drawing her arm back.

Jaune raised his sword just a split second before she threw it—right past him. He whipped around, eyes going wide when he saw the dagger embed right into Emerald's abdomen. “NO—!”

His cry of horror was cut off by Cinder darting forward and slashing her long claws across his face, sending him sprawling back on the floor. His cry alerted Tyrian, however, who turned from Hazel and saw both Emerald with a white-hot dagger in her abdomen and Jaune crashed back on the floor.

Tyrian's lapse in focus gave Hazel enough time to punch him in the head to send him face-first into the floor. Tyrian hissed in pain, striking back with his tail and yelping when it was caught in Hazel's hand, his attempts to sit up halted by a heavy boot on his back.

Hazel held Tyrian's tail in a vice grip near the stinger to keep it from piercing him, glowering down at the Faunus. “I was given another order from Salem concerning you,” he intoned, gripping another section with his other hand. “She told me that when I found you, and when I caught you...” His foot braced down hard.

“That I was to take what you held most dear to you.”

In one hard tug, he tore Tyrian's tail clean off the Faunus's back.

 

Tyrian's bloodcurdling scream rang through the entire room, everyone looking on at the horrible red and purple mess that pooled around the Faunus. Tyrian thrashed on the floor, unable to move properly even after Hazel stepped off of him.

“YOU BASTARD!” Tyrian screamed, clawing and hitting at the floor in a blinding haze of agony, unable to see anything through the white-hot fire of pain and his own tears. “YOU GODDAMN BASTARD...!”

Weiss kept her focus on Emerald, knowing enough from first aid 101 that the last thing you do to a foreign object this big in this vital of an area was to NOT remove it. She swallowed hard, forcing down her own panic and nausea as she grabbed Myrtenaster and created a glyph around the dagger, cooling it with ice dust until it fizzled out on its own, creating a half-cauterized wound.

“It's okay, Emerald,” she said as calmly as she could with her own shaking voice, seeing visible signs of Emerald going into shock. “Stay with me, it'll be okay.” She kept cooling with the glyph to at least numb the pain for Emerald, talking her through staying conscious.

Ruby looked ready to vomit at all ends of the situation, torn between who to help first, what to DO first, when a cold wave of pure darkness almost put her on her knees. Looking around, she saw that she wasn't the only one, and quickly saw that the source of the feeling was coming from Jaune.

Black wisps of Grimm was rolling off of him, any sense of humanity completely gone from his eyes that burned so violently that Ruby swore she saw a shadow of his skull through his skin. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, to him, but her voice froze in her throat when Jaune let out a scream even more terrible than Tyrian's just moments ago and in a rushed blur of black and white, was across the room.

Hazel had no time to react to Jaune leaping onto him, golden stinger piercing his aura and armored fingers tearing against his skin. Any attempt to dislodge him was made futile, and Hazel could feel his stamina begin to shudder as the stings began to penetrate his aura.

A sudden forceful clamp around his throat that cut off his breathing made him falter, and a hard swipe of Jaune's tail against the back of his knee sent him back onto the floor, and a flick of his eyes downward and seeing golden hair let him know that the clamping around his throat were teeth.

The realization came much too late as the clamping broke through his aura and for the first time in what seemed like eternity, he felt pain as jaws clamped down HARD and ripped back.

Ren could only stare as he watched Jaune tear out a mouthful of Hazel's throat, blood coating the front of Jaune's white and cold armor as the pseudo-Grimm leaned back. His hands shook violently as he gripped his pistols, every instinct in his body screaming at him to use them. Instinct took a backseat to despair and horror, watching Jaune's jaw move and realized that his teammate, his leader, was chewing on human flesh that had just been torn out.

Jaune stood up from Hazel's body, his Grimm aura overwhelming the room as he turned back to Cinder, pinning her in place with pure hatred as he began to walk toward her. She was frozen for a mere moment before she raised her arm to form a weapon, but a sudden stone cold inside of her made that impossible. Her Grimm hands flexed for something—anything—to happen, but her aura, her Maiden powers, refused to answer to her.

She saw Jaune approaching her, his hand outstretched to her and a grey aura shimmering in his palm, commanding her aura to obey HIS will and leave her open to his nonexistent mercy. Cinder snarled, snapping out her Grimm arm toward him only to have it deflected entirely by his own aura shield. She screeched, clawing at it fruitlessly as he bent down just enough to pick up his sword with his free hand and slice one of her arms off at the elbow joint.

Cinder screamed and retracted that arm, her eyes crazed as she continued to claw at his aura with her remaining hand, backing away like a cornered animal as Jaune stalked forward.

Jaune turned his glowing palm upward and then made a hurling motion with his hand, Cinder's body doing the same as the parts that still used human aura was forced to do so. She looked up and only saw a glint of metal before Jaune's sword came down on her head hard.

Silence deafened the room for the longest time before Jaune dropped his sword, and any word of praise for his action was silenced as the Grimm aura around him began to flare more violently than before.

Qrow stepped back, eyes wide and hands shaking as he stood between Jaune and the other kids, seeing Jaune's body begin to actually change. White plates began to take form over his black carapace on the tail, his bent head showing the same white creeping up to his neck. Under his bangs, Qrow could see the black roots of Jaune's hair creep in veins to his forehead.

Unbidden, Qrow recalled Tyrian's conversation back at the house.

_"Tell me little bird, do you think Jaune was the only human to be changed by Grimm ichor? The Grimm Magnificum...the Nuckelavee...where do you think they came from?  All were once men like you and I."_

This was it. Jaune was finally becoming a pure Grimm.

He felt a sting of tears in his eyes, now regretting every moment he had treated Jaune as anything less than a victim of this ungodly circumstance, of not doing more to help.

_"It's a delicate balancing act we walk, Jaune and I.  If I were not there, what would he become but a monster, when that is all you people see and treat him as?"_

His hand gripped tightly around Harbinger, finding enough sense to make a judgement call. If Jaune was lost to this now, the most merciful thing that he could do would be to take the problem out before it finished forming.

He stood up straight, seeing from the corner of his eye that Ren had been thinking the same thing, and had come to the same conclusion. As he raised his sword and prepared all of his aura into making the swing, he saw someone run past him right at Jaune.

Tyrian threw his arms around Jaune, holding him in a shaking embrace. He could feel the Grimm aura against his body, the sensation painful to his own broken form, but he refused to let go. He reached up, pressing a blood-soaked hand to Jaune's hair, petting softly as he felt Jaune's golden stinger press against his back.

He held Jaune tighter, pressing the boy's head to his shoulder as he fought back the fuzziness of his own pain and blood loss, letting out a shaky sigh. “...come back to me,” he said quietly, his eyes going hazy as he fought to maintain consciousness. “Not yet, my love...” He felt the stinger press against him, almost piercing, and he had enough sense left in his head to brace himself for the fact. “...I'm here for you.”

His vision swam in front of him as his knees gave out, but arms around him kept him from falling to the floor.

 

_Jaune had felt himself literally drowning in a pool of black in his soul, the sensation almost comforting like an escape from acknowledging everything bad that happened in his life from the past few weeks._

_To just let go, to let the Grimm take over...what would be the harm in that? It would do what he always dreaded doing, it would let him finally rest from the hell that had become his life. The others would understand. They had seen his struggle, and knew that it was something that would have happened eventually._

_As he sank deeper, he felt the heat of tears of his human half mourning never reconciling with his friends, with not making peace with Ren, not encouraging Ruby in leadership, leaving Emerald and Mercury behind..._

_Tyrian_

_At the thought of the Faunus, Jaune could almost feel a hand grip his own, the aura holding on tight in a familiar grip of reverence, desire, patience, understanding._

_Love._

_It wouldn't let go._

_It pulled him up from the comforting darkness, hellbent on keeping that hold for as long as possible._

_And for the life of him, Jaune couldn't bring himself to let it go either._

_Darkness would have to wait._

 

He held Tyrian up, seeing the Faunus pale from blood loss and shock. Getting a hold of his own lingering senses, Jaune kept Tyrian's aura from completely collapsing, carrying him over to the pool of red and purple and gently laying him face-down on the floor, picking up the still-twitching tail and carefully aligning it to where it was supposed to go and activating his Semblance, the aura from his hands much lighter than it had been before.

Held breaths were let out and Ren dropped to his knees, crying from terror, relief, and sadness all at once as Nora held him tightly. Qrow kept an eye on them as he tended to the other four girls, kneeling next to Emerald to assess the severity of the wound but knowing she'd need a medic as soon as possible, or at very least Jaune if and when he was done with Tyrian.

Yang looked up and saw that the statue beneath the balcony was gone and a large opening was in the floor below it, knowing that Raven had used the situation to get to the Relic herself, just as they thought. She stood up and turned to Qrow. “Make sure they're okay,” she said before hurrying over and jumping down into the hole.

Qrow hesitated before sitting back to obey his niece, knowing that making sure these kids were going to be okay took precedence over the Relic in his book any day.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one more to go, folks!


	20. Chapter 20

Jaune didn't know if his healing would hold in reattaching Tyrian's tail, but he was running on limited time knowing that Emerald needed help too.  He finally got the appendage to hold and told Tyrian to stay put as he walked over to Emerald. 

Despite Qrow's initial first instinct being to keep Jaune away from the others, he stayed his hand and kept his eyes forward, not keen on digging his pit of guilt even deeper.  Ruby quietly pulled Weiss away to let Jaune have room to heal Emerald, keeping a tight hold on her arm.  "Jaune can amplify her aura and heal her," she told Weiss quietly, her voice shaking.  "It's okay."  She knew Weiss didn't quiet believe her, but all that mattered right now was Emerald being healed.

Emerald felt the seared flesh and the cut heal up, the pain ebbing away as her aura replenished, and likewise regaining enough sense to reach up and press the comm button on her earpiece.  "....Mercury?"

 _"EMERALD, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?  WHY HASN'T ANYONE ANSWERED ME!?"_   Emerald winced at the volume, taking the earpiece away slightly.

"...I think it's okay in here," she said, noting Jaune's shoulders untense from her blase answer.  "We'll fill you in later, but what's going on with YOU?"

 _"You won't fucking believe this, but Blake Belladonna showed up with a ton of Faunus and took the White Fang down...hold on, I think - HOLD UP, I'M NOT-"_   Mercury was cut off in a buzz of static moments before the doors were blasted open with Mercury's body followed by Blake and Sun in pursuit.  Blake didn't even seem to notice the group as she rushed in for another hit.

"OMIGOSH, BLAKE!"  Ruby jumped up, equal parts shocked and ecstatic to see her old teammate again.  Ruby's call had Blake freeze mid-throw of Gambol Shroud, looking up and seeing the chaotic mess the hall was in, but most importantly, seeing her friends and then some scattered around.  Everyone stared at one another, not knowing what to say or how to say it after such a sudden meeting.

Mercury groaned, sitting up sore from being gunchucked through the doors, and had Sun lock onto him again, holding up his hands.  "Just WAIT a minute-!"  He jumped up and prepared to defend himself when Ruby ran up in front of Mercury, holding her arms out. 

"SUN, STOP!" she shouted, making Sun skid to a halt.  Ruby let out a heavy sigh, dropping her arms.  "Just stop, okay?  Everyone STOP..."  She teared up, the stress of the entire day combined with her happiness at seeing Blake again settling on her hard. 

Weiss hurried over, taking Ruby's hand and turning to Mercury.  "Go make sure Emerald is okay," she said, squeezing Ruby's hand and turning back to Sun.  "It's okay...a VERY long story, but it's okay..."  She looked over at Blake, her own eyes watering up.  "...but you guys are HERE...HOW...?"

Sun shot Emerald and Mercury an odd look but didn't retaliate further as requested.  "....talk about long stories," he muttered, collapsing his staff and hooking it back to his belt.  "Whatever YOU guys are doing here, I'm sure it had SOMETHING to do with the 'Fang outside, so...that's a thing."  He stepped aside so Weiss and Ruby had a direct line to Blake.  "But like you said...long story, and that can wait." 

Ruby nodded, smiling and holding her free arm out for Blade, Weiss doing the same. Blake hesitated for just a moment before rushing up and hugging them both tightly, her shoulders shaking softly from barely-concealed tears of relief and joy. Weiss and Ruby hugged her back like they never wanted to let go, not bothering to halt their own crying.

Blake lifted her head slightly, her cat ears twitching. “...where's Yang?” she asked quietly, the lack of her partner putting a hesitant and almost fearful edge to her voice. Weiss and Ruby shared a look, that being a story in and of itself, then to the empty pit in the floor.

Jaune followed their look, his jaw tightening as he stood up. “Emerald, Mercury, go make sure Tyrian stays put for now,” he said, curling his tail around his hips before the two newcomers to the scene could see and ask questions, then hurried over to the pit and jumped down before anyone else could say anything.

Qrow had half a mind to go after him, but he immediately remembered Oscar and looked around wildly, seeing that both the boy and Lionheart were gone, the side doors deeper into the school opened. He picked up Harbinger and hurried over, thinking the absolute worst, but was relieved when Oscar came back through the doors alone. “Kid, are you okay?” he asked, looking over Oscar's head down the hall for any sign of Lionheart.

Oscar nodded, his face pale. Qrow frowned. “...where's Leo?” Oscar looked vaguely ill, shakily pointing behind him.

“He's....in his office...” Oscar stammered. “There was.....he was talking to HER some way....and...” He swallowed hard. “....and there was a Grimm that...” He put a hand to his mouth and shoved Qrow aside to vomit behind the door frame back in the hall. Qrow grimaced, guessing that Salem found out about the bungled mission and took it out on Lionheart and didn't need to escape right away to see just what was making Oscar react so poorly.

He put a hand on Oscar's shoulder, sighing heavily. “Let it out, kiddo,” he said quietly. “You don't have to go back in there, stay out here with the others while I go check on Yang-”

“NO!” Oscar yelped, clinging to Qrow's wrist, looking the most like a panicked child Qrow had ever seen before, making him forget entirely that this boy had Ozpin in his head. “I can't...what if SHE comes in and...!”

“She won't, okay? She won't risk outing herself like that.” Qrow looked around at everyone else, noting that not a one of them was either physically, emotionally, or mentally prepared to be alone right now, and put a hand on Oscar's shoulder, leading him away from the hallway. “What did Oz have to say about it?”

Oscar nodded, looking relieved Qrow wasn't leaving. “...I did what he said and stayed out of sight,” he said. “I was hiding in the corner outside his office, and I heard EVERYTHING...and then when it was quiet I....he told me NOT to, but I looked in, and...”

“Calm down, we'll figure something out,” Qrow said, giving the doorway to the hall a tentative look, not wanting to even imagine what was in Lionheart's office right now. “Why don't you settle back and let Oz come out while we talk something over, okay?”

For once, Oscar didn't look iffy about giving up control as he nodded and slumped slightly before Ozpin's aura took over. “Oz?”

Ozpin let out a weary sigh, leaning his weight on his cane. “....I will say, it's...not easy to have a first-person feel on a child's terror,” he said thickly. “Nothing in that office is something any of those children should see. But Leo's actions and fate should be on a need-to-know basis.” He gave Qrow a hard look. “The truth would put Mistral in more danger than it should be.”

Qrow didn't particularly like that idea, but he had to concede to Ozpin's logic. “...right,” he said shortly, looking over at the Vault entrance. “....I'm giving them ten minutes before I go down there.”

“Fair enough.”

 

Jaune was glad for the sections of the Vault tunnel walls that jutted out and gave him small platforms to catch onto as he descended down, not for the first time thinking of some way to add a ranged option to his own weapons, if anything than recoil for landing strategies. He finally saw the bottom of the elevator and used his sword stinger to latch into the wall and drag down just before he reached the open front of the Vault cavern.

Jaune sighed with relief, internally cursing Ozpin's ridiculous Vault designs as he curled his tail tightly around the sheath embedded in the wall and peered down, managing to look upside-down into the Vault itself.

There was an open doorway into a bright place, and Yang was standing next to Vernal and Raven, speaking loud enough for Jaune to hear even where he was.

“ —not like you, I won't run! Which is why YOU'RE going to give me the Relic!”

Vernal's hands clenched around her weapons, ready to fire at Raven's command as Raven glowered at Yang.

“And WHY would I—“

“BECAUSE YOU'RE AFRAID OF SALEM!” Yang shouted. “And if you thought having Maiden powers put a target on your head, imagine what she'll do when she finds out you have a Relic.” She watched her mother's eyes widen slightly and fear seize through here. “She'll come after you with everything she has!” She stepped forward, disregarding Vernal. “Or she can come after ME. And I'll be standing there. Waiting for her.”

Vernal's weapons lowered, looking surprised that Yang would even consider something like that, looking to Raven for an answer. Raven's eyes darted from one empty space to another as her options and thoughts went everywhere at once before she looked back up at Yang, stepping up to her, her expression almost pleading.

“...you don't want to do this, Yang,” she almost whispered. Yang's expression remained hardened.

“Nope,” she said. “And after everything else I've seen Salem capable of...I SHOULDN'T want to do this.” Her shaking hand clenched slightly. “But I'm gonna do it anyway.” She shouldered past Raven, stepping past her and up to the Vault door, then paused. “...Salem doesn't know you're the Maiden,” she said, “and you can protect Vernal by spreading rumor she died....changing her identity, making Salem believe the Spring Maiden powers are randomly out there. Your... _family_...might even be left alone.”

Raven's eyes welled up, dripping tears silently to the floor as her hand went to her sword, her aura sifting to activate her Semblance. “....I....I'm sorry...” she murmured.

Yang's shoulders tensed slightly, keeping her eyes forward. “...yeah,” she said. “Me too.” She heard her mother create a portal and both Raven and Vernal step through before silence.

Yang glanced back, indeed seeing nothing before turning back to the Vault door and walking through, slowly making her way up to a peculiar golden lamp full of soft blue light, looking it over before taking it and looking it over quietly.

All this mess in Mistral for THIS, she thought. Being treated like NOTHING by her mother, finding Ruby only to find out even darker truths about the world she wasn't even sure Raven was familiar with, that mess upstairs, finding out her mother was the Spring Maiden all this time...

All for THIS.

Yang dropped to her knees, putting a hand over her mouth as she stifled back sobs of mental exhaustion and emotional anguish. It was the least she could allow herself in the moment of solitude she had.

After a few minutes, she forced herself to dry her face and stand up to get back to the elevator and figure out how to work it, stepping out of the doorway and freezing when she saw Jaune standing right outside the Vault.

Jaune glanced at the Relic and back out into the world beyond the doorway before looking at Yang, his expression all she needed to know that he knew what she did now. She opened her mouth to say something when Jaune held up his hand.

“It's not my business now,” he said. “Nor is it anyone else's. And everything will be safer the fewer people know.” He stepped back out of her direct line, turning to the elevator. “We need to get back.”

Yang swallowed hard, nodding and walking back to the elevator with him, keeping her grip tight on the lamp's handle, remaining silent the way back up.

 

Qrow paced the floor, looking over at the Vault's opening and sighing. “I'm gonna go down,” he said, drawing Harbinger and heading over.

Ruby nibbled her lip, worried. “....I hope Yang and Jaune are okay,” she said quietly. Mercury snorted from his spot next to Emerald.

“Give 'em some credit,” he said, giving her a smirk that only after all this time of knowing him she knew was meant to actually be reassuring and friendly. “If Blondie did have any trouble, you know Jaune evened it out. They'll have the Relic.”

Emerald nodded, smiling to herself. “...they won't let us down,” she concurred. She looked up, hearing a soft hum from where Qrow was just about to jump down into, seeing the elevator come up with Yang and Jaune, the former holding onto a gold lamp.

Ruby beamed while Weiss sighed with relief and Blake's ears flicked, staring up almost reverently. “Yang...” the Faunus said, too emotional to properly verbalize her sentiment toward her partner.

Qrow met Yang at the bottom of one pair of stairs while Jaune went the other, taking the Relic that she held out to him. “What happened?” he asked.

Yang shrugged softly. “I don't know exactly,” she said. “When I got there, the Vault was open and the Relic was there.”

Qrow's brow furrowed. “And Raven? Vernal?” he asked.

“....gone.”

The elder sighed, patting her shoulder. “Well, we're all glad you're here, firecracker,” he said, turning and giving her a nudge toward the other three of Team RWBY was. “...I know one particular person is.”

Yang's jaw dropped seeing Blake, feeling her knees almost give out under her as a million thoughts ran through her head. She mechanically walked over and stood by her team, her expression mirroring everything she wanted to say, and more.

Blake seemed to understand completely. “...I'm not going anywhere,” she said. Ruby smiled.

“And that's all that matters. Right?”

Silence settled between them before Yang dropped to her knees, hugging everyone to her. “...yeah,” she said, her voice thick with more tears that threatened to come out. 

The four held each other tightly as Emerald looked up to Jaune, only to find he wasn't anywhere to be seen. “...where's Jaune?” she asked Mercury, who looked around and then behind him to Tyrian only to find the Faunus was gone too. “...where did they...?”

Mercury sat back, running a hand through his hair and feeling a weight of knowing and disappointment drop in his gut. “....they're gone,” he said quietly. “...I imagine the Belladonna group and Mistral police force will want to ask questions about Jaune now....he doesn't even look Faunus anymore.”

Emerald stared at her hands, knowing that Mercury was right, and where Jaune went, Tyrian was sure to go. “...so...what do we do now...?” 

Mercury shook his head. “...I don't know.”

“....you can come with us, if you want.”

The two looked up and saw Nora standing close by, giving them a sad but supportive smile. Ren nodded, looking almost brokenhearted but agreeable to Nora's proposition. “....we're down two teammates now,” he said thickly, his eyes downcast. “...and right now...so are you.” He felt Nora take his hand and squeeze it lightly.

“We didn't spend all that time for nothing,” Nora said. “And right now, we need to stick together.” Her eyes went damp, her smile wavering slightly. “...Jaune...didn't want the team to be split up...any of us...” She wiped at her eyes as Ren nodded quietly.

“...I know he has some things to work out,” he said, looking out the open double doors to the searchlight-lit courtyard where the Mistral police and the Faunus militia group were convening to round up the White Fang. “...and...we need to all be here when he comes back.”

“IF he comes back,” Mercury muttered quietly. He looked up when Ren stepped forward and offered out a hand. 

“...he will,” Ren said firmly. “He won't abandon us.” _No matter how much I deserve him to_ , he thought to himself. 

Mercury paused a beat before taking Ren's hand and allowed himself to be helped up. “...deal,” Mercury said. Nora helped Emerald up, the four keeping a short distance from the newly-formed RWBY, each feeling a soft bitterness of loss while the others had been found.

Qrow handed the lamp to Ozpin, who shrunk it down to a more manageable size and clipped it to his belt. “So what do we do now?” he asked. 

“We have to get the lamp to Atlas,” Ozpin said quietly before looking over the room and seeing two teams, both broken and mended in their own ways, in desperate need of rest. “...but first, the students need some peace and quiet...and questions need to be answered.”

Qrow glanced around at the emotionally-compromised kids, the doorway that led to Lionheart's office, the police and militia group outside, and then at the lamp, sighing as the weight of what was to come settled on him heavily.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There WILL be an epilogue, folks! Don't you worry!


	21. Epilogue

"We could kill them, you know."

Jaune looked down the cliff side and saw Adam Taurus scampering an escape through some trees and even lower, Hazel stumbling through a narrow path with a bloody makeshift bandage around his throat.  "...we could," he said.  "But we won't.  Sometimes humiliation is worse than death."

Tyrian huffed, feeling a persistent dull ache in his lower back where his tail was too sore to even move on its own.  "Speak for yourself, I would rather he be dead after tearing my tail off.  He's lucky none of the White Fang saw that, a human taking a Faunus's aspect is the worst taboo they can commit."  He sat back against the hidden nook in the cliff that sheltered them, giving Jaune a softer look.  "...you didn't have to leave, you know."

The other shook his head.  "I did," he replied.  "All of that negativity...both up in the foyer and down in the Vault...it was worse than starvation with a feast in front of you...and it's so much worse now."  He reached behind his head and touched the nape of his neck, feeling Grimm plating that he knew ran all the way down his spine and over the top of his tail.  "Being away from people in general is what I need until I can get this under control."

Tyrian nodded in understanding, sitting back in a way that didn't bother his tail.  "And I would imagine your...reaction back there wouldn't be so easily forgotten," he added.  Jaune's eyes flickered red as he nodded.

"Yeah."  He took a deep breath and let it out, the red slowly fading until only a hint of it remained around his pupils.  "...I don't think I can ever thank you enough for pulling me out of there, Tyrian."  He stared at his hands quietly.  "...it was so dark, and I was so ready to just give in...but if I had one that....everyone would have..."  He trailed off, the implications not lost on Tyrian as the Faunus reached over and took one of Jaune's hands, lacing their fingers together.

"And that's why I could not let it happen," Tyrian said.  "Because then you would not be you anymore."  He lifted their locked hands to kiss Jaune's, smiling.  "And I made a promise, didn't I?"

Jaune nodded, giving Tyrian a soft smile.  "Yeah, you did."  He leaned his head back against the stone wall, fishing out his scroll with his free hand and looking at the signal bars on every else's scrolls, seeing it down two bars but still in range of everyone's signal. 

"...and I made a promise I have to keep too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of part one! I'll be posting the sequel in February, after V6 concludes. Watch out for Pt 2: Carousel!


End file.
